I'll Be There
by OhMyEzria
Summary: Wesley's Dead, And As Much As Aria and Ezra Want To Move On, There's A lot That Needs Uncovering First.
1. Chapter 1

So I've decided to turn this into a proper story, with a proper SL. Reviews would be great!

Chapter One.

Both Ezra Fitz and Aria Montgomery sat on the sofa of his minuscule apartment, going about their own business. Aria was happily curled up beside the new puppy, whom they had named Daisy after the main character in The Great Gatsby, a novel they both adored. On the other hand, Ezra was silently reading the morning paper, his feet kicked up on the coffee table. They were both happy with the comfortable silence, it was a rather relaxing thing to do on a late Sunday morning.

"So, what're we doing tonight?" Ezra asked, setting his paper down on the armrest of the sofa. "It's New Years Eve."

"I know" Was all Aria returned, not moving her eyes to meet her boyfriend. As exciting as New Years Eve was, it was a horrible reminder that the following day she'd have to return home again. Just the thought of having to leave the apartment, having to leave Ezra made her want to crawl under his bed and stay there for all eternity. She felt loved here, cherished. She would never get that at home. She was noticed. The only time her family would acknowledge her existence was when Aria would inform them she was staying at Ezra's, that's when they 'cared'.

"You don't want to go out?" Ezra asked in a gentle tone, running his hand along her legs as they rested over his lap.

"I don't want to go home."

"I know, but if you want to come back then you need to. I'm sure your family misses you." Ezra knew how much Aria would hate leaving after staying over for a few days, she would always act like a child, demanding that Ezra ask for her to stay longer. But Ezra knew, that if he did that, then Ella and Byron would drag her out by her hair, and put a stop to these visits. Neither of them wanted that.

"Yeah, right. They just care about me when I'm with you" She spat back, scratching behind Daisy's ears.

"Hey, I didn't do anything here, Aria."

"It's not my fault my parents hate you." The moment the words left Aria's lips she instantly regretted it, and quickly scampered into Ezra's lap as a scared puppy would do, burying her head in his bare chest. "I didn't mean that."

"It's true, your Dad does hate me. I think I'm growing on Ella, though." Ezra tried to make a joke out of it, but Aria didn't show any signs of amusement. "I'm shutting up"

"No, don't shut up. Tell me not to go."

"You know I don't want you to go home, but we both know that you refusing to go home won't help." Heaving a sigh, Ezra glanced down at his stubborn girlfriend, and pressed a kiss to her forehead, his arms wrapping around her petite frame. "We agreed to see each other on their terms, and we're sticking to it." Deep down, Aria knew that what he said was true, the sooner she left, the sooner she could return. "And It's not like you aren't constantly calling me and texting me." He teased, squeezing her sides.

Aria pulled away from his chest, smacking his arm. "Don't you blame all of this on me, if I remember correctly you call me the most!"

"You called me first" Ezra argued, raising a finger.

"You spoke to me first." Aria knew then that she had won, because of course she was right.

"And it's the best thing I've ever done." With a grin, Ezra pecked a small kiss to Aria's lips, in which she responded without hesitation, her cheeks blushing a dark crimson.

"Touché, Mr Fitz."

"Thank you, Miss Montgomery." He paused, his first question coming back to mind. "Seriously, what do you want to do tonight? We stayed in last night, and /all/ of the nights before that doing rather inappropriate activities.

"Someone dark." Aria began, lacing her hands into his hair; one of his many weaknesses that she had picked up on over the past year. "Where we won't be seen, but with fireworks. There has to be fireworks."

"Aren't they having that party at Rosewood? That should be dark, no one will see us if we hide in the back."

"Too risky, we'll be seen by someone. What about the Philadelphia firework display? That doesn't start until late. 10, I think." Ezra contemplated the idea for a minute, silently scowling at himself for even suggesting such a foolish idea.

"Phili? That should be fun. No one we know should be there."

"Exactly" The small girl said smugly, giving his hair a gentle tug. "But that does mean that we won't be able to keep up our streak of inappropriate activities. How many nights in a row? 7 isn't it?" She began trailing a hand along his chest. "It'd be a real shame to waste all of our hard work"

"What are you suggesting, Miss Montgomery? I can honestly say I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about, Mr Fitz." Curling her bottom lip between her teeth, she shifted slightly on his lap, straddling him. "And I believe it all starts with a kiss."

"You better hurry up then, we don't have long" Ezra teased, twisting his fingers in the hem of the shirt that she had stolen from his draw earlier this morning. It was way too long for his liking. Aria leant over to place the small puppy down on the floor, hurrying him along before shifting their weight so he was laid upon the sofa. They both stared at each other for a few moments in admiration, fascinated that the other was theirs. "Times ticking, Miss Montgomery." Aria leaned down to press a kiss to her lips, only to be disturbed by a knocking at the door. "Great timing." Ezra groaned, as Aria quickly jumped up and searched the room for her clothes, quickly disappearing into the bathroom. This had been done so many times, she hated that stupid bathroom. It was the only place she could hide.

After hearing mutters for at least ten minutes, and then the door slam shut, Ezra pushed open the bathroom door, a rather aggravated look on his face.

"Who was it?"

"My Mother." Ezra didn't say anymore, instead he just turned and moved to lay on the bed, staring at the wall. With a curious look upon her features, Aria took her place beside him, toying around with the ends of his hair.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Aria kept a soft tone, slightly worried of his unusual behaviour.

"Wesley's dead."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two.

"What do you mean Wesley's dead? How? Why? When? This is a joke right?" Aria rushed all of her words out, causing most of it to come out as nothing but useless babble. Ezra laid still on the bed, not saying a single world, not moving a single muscle. It was though he was frozen in place. She hadn't ever seen him like this, and she didn't like it one bit. It terrified her, he did nothing. This told her that what he had just said was in fact not a joke, and his brother, was dead.

Wesley had remembered him visiting not three weeks ago, smiling happily, sat beside Ezra eating pizza whilst the three of them watched the new horror film that Wes had been dying to see. No pun intended. It wasn't very often Wesley would show up at the apartment, but when he did, Ezra always seemed to be happier.  
"What did your Mother say?" Yet another minute passed of nothing but silence. This silence, compared to the one just an hour earlier, was torturous. It killed Aria. "Ezra? You're scaring me."  
"You know, you should probably go. Your family will want you home soon anyway." Ezra mumbled under his breath, raising up to his feet. Aria watched him intently, an eyebrow raised as he pulled the front door open.  
"I don't want to go" Aria began, sitting up on the bed. "I want to stay here, with you." She knew that she couldn't leave him, not like this. He seemed different, distant.  
The words that slipped out of Ezra's lips yet she didn't expect, however.  
"Yeah, well I don't want you here." With a frustrated sigh, Ezra continued. "I just want you to leave"  
Ezra knew what he wanted. No, actually he didn't. One side of him was angry, and wanted to be on his own. The other side, wanted to just melt down and break, shatter into a million pieces. He really couldn't be doing with Aria's constant nagging, he had just received the news of his brother, the only family member that he had left and could trust, was dead. Gone, forever. How had Wesley brought this upon himself? He seemed perfectly fine not long ago. Being his usual annoying self. Sometimes, Ezra had been close to killing him himself, but he didn't mean it. Now someone had done it for him.  
"Well I'm not going anywhere" Aria snapped stubbornly, chewing the ends of her fingernails to get her point across. She was standing her ground.  
"GET OUT!" Ezra yelled at the top of his voice, instantly regretting his words. But he wouldn't tell Aria that, being alone would be the best thing for him. He could be upset alone without Aria. His stern voice caused Aria to practically jump up from the bed, clinging to the ends of the shirt she was wearing.  
After about ten minutes of just staring at each other intensely, practically burning holes in each other with their harsh stares, Aria took a steady breath, knowing that neither of them would be giving in any time soon. They were arguing, with stars.  
Her voice was shaken, but stern. "No."  
Another few minutes past, as Ezra let Aria's answer settle in. He was never to let Aria see him cry, not properly. All these years, he had managed to hold it all in, never cry in front of her, even after the many breakups, fights, discoveries. This was new to him. When he was younger, Ezra could remember his rather telling him that if you cry in front of a woman, it makes you look weak. That saying was bouncing around in his head right now. Soon enough Ezra figured that Aria definitely wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, and searched the room for some clothes, furiously tugging on anything he could find before shooting Aria a glare, and disappearing out the door with a loud slam. The smash caused Aria to jump slightly, but she managed to regain her stern stance.

Well that's just brilliant, Aria thought, emitting a groan as she saw his phone on the table. Now how was she supposed to call him? Usually, after a heated argument over something idiotic had started, Ezra would always be the first crack and storm out. She didn't know where he would go, or what he would do but several long antagonising hours later, he'd just show up. Never drunk, nor angry. Just tired, Aria guessed. Tired of fighting. By this time, Aria would be curled up on the bed, fast asleep. But she knew that he was there, running his hands along her arms, pressing kisses to her shoulder as an apology. She knew.

Now by the time Ezra had walked through the door, Aria had already been laid on the bed, buried deep under the duvet, his side to be exact. After Ezra had gone away, she would always sleep on his side. The way she could smell his aroma on the pillow, the warmth of his presence the night before.  
Ezra couldn't help but stare at her, the past few hours having been spent on a park bench, staring idly at a speck of grass on the floor. Due to the cold weather, not a lot of children were playing around, but Ezra liked the silence. He had figured out two things on his outing. One, that he was going to get the bottom of Wesley's death. And two, he needed Aria with him. She couldn't leave, not now. She was all he had left. The best thing was, that when Ezra looked at Aria, the painful thoughts of Wesley subsided, as if it didn't exist.

Aria shuffled in the bed, trying to get comfortable once more before emitting a small sigh and opening her eyes. Trust her to wake up in the middle of a dream like that. She sat for a minute, smiling to herself at the thin memory of it, before her eyes caught Ezra's, and her smile switched to one of pity, reassurance, pain. All of the above.  
"Hey." She whispered, folding her arms across her chest.  
"I didn't mean to wake you up." Ezra apologised, his expression blank.  
"It's okay, I didn't mean to fall asleep."  
"It's okay."  
"Do you want a drink? I could make you some coffee?" It was all Aria could think up in such short notice.

Ezra felt his throat dry out, and moved towards the cupboards to pull out the small bottle of whiskey, grasping a glass for himself, before taking a seat on his bed once more and pouring himself a glass.  
All Aria could do was watch him neck glass after glass, until the once full bottle had only a few drops let. He could drink away his feelings, his hurt, his pain. The Jack Daniels would definitely save him this time.  
"Do you want to talk about it?" Aria suddenly said, her hands picking at the strands of her hair. She got one shake of the head, as he downed the last few drops of evidence that the bottle was full less than an hour ago. "Hungry?" Yet another shake of the head.  
"I bet it was /her/" Ezra's voice was laced with venom. He had planned out her death in his head, she had caused this. She had to have had something to do with it. You don't just die.  
"What're you talking about?"  
"Her, my Mother" Ezra growled out, his hands turning white from the tight grip he had on his glass. "I bet she drove him to this. I bet she pushed him"  
"You think it was suicide?"  
"What else?"  
"Wesley wouldn't do that, Ezra."  
"How do you know, Hm?" Aria emitted a sigh, strolling towards him to take a seat beside him, her hand resting on his knee. Ezra's eyes met with her own, and then locked with her own. That's all it took, Ezra felt the tears welling in his eyes. He couldn't take it anymore. He collapsed into her, sobbing furiously, letting out everything he had held in.

After several long and torturous hours of Aria having to listen to Ezra's endless sobbing, she had managed to drag him up onto the bed, and had him against her chest, hands soothingly combing through his hair in an attempt to get him to sleep. It must've been atleast 4am, and he still hadn't stopped. Ezra would cry for a while, and then stop for a little bit before he began again. He'd done this at least seven times, Aria counted. The worst thing for her, was his poor state. He looked so fragile and alone. Aria was terrified. She wouldn't allow herself to cry with him, it wasn't her place to. This wasn't anything to do with her, it was his brother. But then the sound of his own sobbing, made Aria want to cry herself. He couldn't have many tears left. Of course, she had spilled a few rare tears throughout the night, but nothing that'd give away her defeat. She was to be strong for her boyfriend, when he needed her most.

Ezra wouldn't admit, but he liked this. Being able to lay in her arms, it was different, soothing him of the pain. He knew that Aria wasn't asleep, she wouldn't dare sleep especially with him like this. She was a worrier, and that's how he loved her.  
So there they both lay, in complete silence, Aria occasionally whispering out a few "It's all going to be okay"'s here and there, but to Ezra, her promises were hallow. Wesley was gone, and he was never coming back.


	3. Chapter 3

It seemed to be the longest night of both Aria's and Ezra's life. Thankfully, Ezra had managed to doze off after a while, but Aria on the other hand just couldn't switch off. After an agonising seven hours of listening to him cry, it was the only noise that filled her head when she was to close her eyes for even a second. Truth be told, Aria was exhausted. She just couldn't sleep though.  
It soon began to get light outside, and due to it being summer that meant it must of been around 6am. With a small sigh of frustration, Aria tried to pry herself away from Ezra, who for the past few hours had been clung to her shirt. But obviously Ezra had other ideas, because the moment she tried to remove his arms from around her waist he only tightened them, and pulled her body closer to his.  
"Keep still." Ezra muttered lazily into the shirt, turning onto his side with his eyes still closed tightly.  
"I need to use the bathroom." She sighed melodramatically, emitting a slight giggle at his appearance. It was obvious that he had been crying, you could tell by the shade of red that overtook his pale complexion.  
"Keep still."  
Aria didn't bother answering him back, mostly because she didn't have any time to before he was back asleep once more. She suddenly felt the urge to tell him about the incident between her and Wes a few months ago.  
~~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~~~  
Ezra had been away for a while, sorting out whatever he had to. Whilst he was gone, Aria had been living in his apartment. Sleeping in his clothes, checking his emails, keeping his apartment tidy. Of course Ezra didn't know this, but what was the harm?  
It was about four days in that she met Wesley, and they had bonded instantly.  
They were currently sat in Ezra's apartment, watching some kind of action film.  
Aria was slightly jumpy with all of the guns and loud noises, but Wesley on the other hand was constantly laughing.  
"Will you be quiet? I'm trying to watch the movie and all I can hear is you laughing like a maniac!" Aria said sternly, shoving the boys shoulder. This only caused him to laugh louder, just to tease her.  
"Oh shush! It's funny!"  
"People are being shot, Wes. Hardly a comedy film."  
"I picked the movie tonight."  
"It's so boring though..." Aria groaned, pointing at the screen. "And the storyline is terrible."  
"You don't have to stay and watch it." Wesley replied simply, shrugging his shoulders.  
"It was your turn to pick the movie. It was only fair."  
"You know where the door is."  
"I live here."  
"No. My brother lives here. You, on the other hand do not. You live with your parents, who I'm sure aren't overwhelmed about their daughter dating her English teacher."  
Aria narrowed her eyes at Wesley, his blank expression telling her that he was no longer joking.  
"What's your problem? I was messing around." Aria snapped, folding her arms over her chest.  
"I'm just simply stating a fact. Tell me, how does it feel knowing that you'll always get A's?" Wes sneered.  
"You should leave. Right now." Aria had barely slept these past few days, the last thing she needed was an argument with Ezra's brother that'd put her in a worse place with him. Wesley obviously didn't think that was the best idea, because soon his hand was resting upon her bare leg, rubbing his fingertips along her thigh. Suddenly Aria regretted wearing a short dress.  
With a shaky intake of breath, Aria made an attempt to push his hand away, but nothing seemed to work. She was too weak for his strong grip and then that was it, his lips were on hers.  
"Stop." Aria managed to whisper as she shoved at his chest, trying to push him away. Wesley moved to grip her hands, holding them so tightly that if he continued to hold on, the bone was sure to break. "Let go of me" Aria hissed through gritted teeth, her stomach turning at his actions.  
Even with all of this -A business going on, Aria had never been so terrified in her life. Her entire body was trembling as he pushed her down to lay flat on the couch of the apartment, beginning to kiss along her neck as his grip tightened. She was trapped under him, and she wanted nothing more than for her boyfriend to be here to protect her at that moment. To storm through the door and ho her, but Ezra wasn't here. And Aria was alone to face this.

~~~~~~~~Flashback~~~~~~~  
No. She would definitely not tell him. She had dealt with it alone, there was no point in dragging Ezra into it. Not this late on. Especially now. It had been weeks since Aria had thought of it, trust it to be now that she would remember.  
"Aria?" Ezra asked again, this time a little louder.  
She snapped out of her thoughts, glancing down at the dozy figure in her arms. "Hmm?"  
"I asked if you're okay?"  
"Yep. What about you? Feeling better?" With a forced smile, Aria leant down to brush her lips to Ezra's, being rewarded with the smile she'd waited for hours to see on Ezra's face. It wasn't much, just a twitch at the ends of his lips, but it was something.  
"If you're asking if I'm done crying, then I think so." He emitted a small laugh, his eyes moving to scan the room. In his mind, Ezra knew he wasn't done quite yet, but he'd wait until Aria was to go home until he began again. Not that he wanted her to leave, he needed her more than ever right now. "Do you have to leave me today?" It was the look of desperation in his eyes that killed Aria inside.

"Not if you don't want me to. I'll call my mom, ask her to drop me some things off. She should understand." If Aria was to call her Dad, he'd definitely say flat out /No/. Her mom, on the other hand was more understanding, and would give her a little longer. "Hungry?" Aria sat up in the bed, causing Ezra to push his lips out in a childish pout.  
"I don't want to eat anything. I want to stay here, with you. You didn't sleep last night."  
"You shouldn't be worrying about me, Ezra. I'm fine." With a roll of his eyes, Ezra shuffled under the covers, moving aside to so Aria could get in beside him. Of course, she didn't refuse and slipped in beside him, her arm draping over his waist as she shuffled into his chest.  
"No talking, no moving, nothing." He ordered, slipping his arms around her, muttering his last words into her hair. "Thank you, for last night."

"You said no talking. Shut up."


	4. Chapter 4

For**_ Ezra, watching his 18 year old girlfriend sleep was one of his favourite things in the entire world. Obviously, he loved her when she was awake and all, but every time he would see her sleeping his mood would_****_ actually_****_ change completely. _**

It was a sweet reminder that this girl, this beautiful, amazing, intelligent girl was his. The reason he could go on living, was Aria Montgomery.

This was enough to keep Ezra's mind occupied for about ten minutes, before the memories of Wesley rushed back to him. His brother, whom he had grown up with was now gone. He was dead, the reason however Ezra still hadn't been told why. Wesley had told him several times about people who had been after him, threatened to kill him but that was years ago. Maybe he had been involved in an accident? He was always out of it when drunk. Knowing Wes, he probably started a fight with a bus. That made Ezra let out a small chuckle, which led to Aria stirring in her sleep.

"Shhh.." Ezra whispered soothingly, running a hand along her cheek. After settling on her back, Aria slipped back into her peaceful slumber.

He did feel bad, about keeping her awake all night with his childish sobs. It must've been torture for the girl. Thinking about it now he did regret crying, an awful lot. It didn't help him feel better at all, and made his eyes irritant.

A knock at the door caused Ezra to let out a groan, he'd have to move. Pulling himself away from Aria, Ezra jogged towards the door, pulling it open to find nothing. Probably a prank caller, Ezra thought; Until he saw the crisp white envelope on the floor. With a glance in each direction, he picked the letter up and stepped back into the apartment. One name on the front.

Aria.

Who would know that Aria was here? Who would leave a note, actually? The only people that knew of them would've called.

Taking a glance at the snoozing girl, Ezra took a seat on the couch, and began peeling away the seal of the envelope.

It was nearly evening, when Aria finally came around to her senses, with a pulsating head. She would get migraines a lot whenever she was stressed, it was frustrating as hell.

With a low groan, she sat up in the bed, running a hand through her tangled hair as she searched the room for her boyfriend. Thing is, he wasn't there. The door was wide open. Where could he have gotten to? She strolled over to the table which had her phone on, leaving her mother a quick message to explain the situation, when she the letter caught her eye. It was... Addressed to her? Why was it here? Better yet, why had it been read? She grasped it up in her hand, and began reading over the words.

Dearest, Aria.

For weeks now I have been trying to decide how I was going to write this, and still now I'm struggling for words.

What I did.. What I did to you was unacceptable, and unforgivable in my eyes. At first, I was in Denial, but now I know. I forced you into it, I listened to your loud cries for help and yet still continued. I suppose I wanted to get back at Ezra, that was all that was running through my head at the time.

I wanted to know what it was like to be him.

Nonetheless, I'm sorry. I appreciate you not telling Ezra about this. It was the right thing to do, don't you think?

I mean, I'm not the only person that he'd be mad at.

Thank you.

Wes.

"You read it then?" A familiar voice said, causing Aria's eyes to shoot up and lock with Ezra's. "At first, I thought it was a sick joke, but them after reading it three or four times I figured it was real."

All Aria could do was stare at Ezra, her bottom lip trembling as she tried to splutter out an explanation to all this.

"Ezra.."

"Start from the beginning." Ezra said simply, closing the door behind him and taking a seat on the coffee table to listen.

Over the past hour, Ezra had been back at the bench, chewing furiously on his fingernails. Was he reading it write? Had his brother, actually done /that/? To his girl? To say he was angry was an understatement. He couldn't look at Aria the same again, knowing that Wesley had tortured her like that. Ran his hands along the side of her body, sucked on the delicate skin at her collarbone like she loved. The only difference was that Aria didn't love it. He could imagine her beneath Wesley's broad body, writhing beneath him for a chance to escape, screaming and sobbing and whatnot to get out of it. He shouldn't of left her alone. He shouldn't of been so selfish. Shouldn't of left her. If he had known before, Ezra would've made sure Wesley was dead himself. He was furious at Aria for keeping this from him though. How could she have kept something so... Vile from him? Ezra could've helped her get through it. Could've sorted this out for her. Had Aria told anyone else about this? About him? He couldn't get mad, not at her. She was the victim here.

"... That's when I knew something was off with him. The things he said. Then he started running his hand along my leg." Aria muttered quietly, her eyes glued to the floor.

"Stop. You don't have to do this, Aria." Ezra said in the gentlest tone he could manage. He placed a hand atop of hers, bringing it to his lips to brush a kiss along her knuckles.

Despite the tears that were rolling down her cheeks, Aria continued, telling Ezra every single detail.

"I can't believe you didn't tell me. You're /mine/. He shouldn't of taken you like that!" Ezra spat, pacing the room quickly.

"I didn't tell you for a reason!" Aria snapped back, rolling her eyes at his behaviour

"And that reason is?"

"You'd behave like this, Ezra. Childish. I'm not a toy, you know. You don't own me"

"No one is allowed to touch you but me. No one is allowed to run their hands along your naked sides, or kiss along your neck, or watch you bite on your lip to hide the moans. No one, but me." That hit Aria, she had no idea what this was about. She raised to her feet, raising a brow at him. He seemed to be calming down.

"Continue."

"No ones allowed to give you their shirts afterwards because you can't sleep naked. No one can dig their nails into your hips so hard that is leaves marks. No one but me."

Somehow, this intrigued Aria. And then she suddenly knew how to take both of their problems away for the night.

Slowly and antagonisingly, Aria began unbuttoning the shirt that covered her completely naked frame, dropping it to the floor to settle her hands on her hips. "Keep going, go on."

Ezra's eyes grew wide at the naked girl before him, spluttering out his words. "N-No one can feel your nails dragging across my back, or tug on their hair, or feel your hips buck against their own." With each reason Aria took a step closer, until she was flush against his chest, a hand trailing down it as she worked on unzipping his jacket. "And no one, ever; is allowed to make love to you but me" Ezra whispered lowly against her lips, before crashing them furiously against her own.


	5. Chapter 5

**_Warning for you all here, this chapter is rated M. You'll find out why as you read it. Review would he great guys! _**

Some people say that sex is the answer to everything, for Aria and Ezra, right now it was.

Aria thought that it was a way to take away Ezra's pain, frustration and anger.

For Ezra, on the hand; It was a way to make his claim on the girl that was his.

Both of their lips moved in sync with one another, Ezra immediately taking control of the kiss as he took her face in his hand, muttering "I love you"'s over and over into her mouth.

Aria saw this as an invitation, her tongue running along Ezra's bottom lip before she thrusted it forcefully into his mouth, colliding it with his own. This was what they were best at. Letting out their anger, on each other.

"Bed." Aria growled out, making quick work of unbuttoning his shirt to push it from his body, pulling away from his lips to admire his toned chest. She ran her hands along his shoulders, allowing them to freely roam around his chest and body. It was very rare that Aria was allowed to touch Ezra in such a way, to be able to run her hands along his chest.

By now Ezra had managed to manoeuvre the both of them towards the tiny bed in the corner of the room, and lowered her down onto it, following closely behind.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Aria stuttered, dragging Ezra against her own naked and exposed body, to press her lips to is.

Despite the pair of them knowing the answer, Ezra decided to answer anyway. "Just shut up and kiss me."

She was quite surprised by his stern tone, but nonetheless didn't let it phase her at all. He dragged his lips along her jawline, leaving a trail of wet and delicate kisses down towards her neck. He knew that he couldn't leave obvious marks on her neck, that'd raise suspicion.

Although Ezra wanted nothing more than to watch her in class, trying to cover the marks with one of her scarfs, someone was bound to put the pieces together and have him in jail before he could say "I love her." Her collarbone and chest, however would be covered.

Ezra's lips found the usual space just below her collarbone, and began to suck and nip at the skin, moving slightly to the left each time he would leave a mark. All Aria could do was gasp and moan beneath him, her hands tangling in his dark locks. This was one of his weaknesses, the most obvious. She knew every weak spot that he had, right down to the small ones. Tugging at his hair was her only way to keep some kind of control on all of this, this was when Ezra's dominant side would show. He wouldn't usually be like this, to him Aria was like a piece of glass. She was delicate, he couldn't break her. A small, yet lustful moan emitted through Ezra's lips as she tugged on his hair a little too rough, growling under his breath. What Aria didn't expect was for Ezra to drag her hands from his hair, and pin them above her head, using one hand to hold her own in place.

This didn't feel real for Aria, it made her think of that night just a few months ago, sending shivers through her body.

"Stop." Aria winced, the pleading in her voice causing Ezra's head to shoot up, his eyes searching hers worriedly. "Just.. Just give me a minute." It was then that Ezra glanced up at her hands, understanding what had happened. He immediately released her hands, running his hands along her arms, her neck and sides until they reached her hips. She shuddered under his gentle touch, giving herself a minute to compose herself before grasping at his jeans, fumbling with the button to pull it undone, tugging them down his hips, his boxers following suit.

This was the quickest that they'd manage to arrive in this position. Usually it'd be a little bit more romantic, but this took Ezra's mind off of everything. It was short, sweet and lustful.

Ezra reached over towards his draw, searching for a foil packet amongst the different random objects that Ezra now regretted putting in there. Aria let out an impatient sigh, placing a hand on his forearm to stop his actions. He only gave her a confused look, mouthing out a "What?" What was she playing at? Was she suggested what he thinks she was?

"Don't." Was all she said lingering her hand on his skin before dragging it up to his shoulders, this time speaking sternly. "Don't."

"But-"

"Don't."

"Aria..." This was way too risky. She was 18 years old, for crying out loud.

"I said, Don't. I don't want you to."

"This is a /big/ risk, Aria. A huge risk."

Just like he had done a few minutes earlier, Aria guided his lips to her own, muttering against them in the lowest tone she could. "Just shut up and kiss me."

Ezra didn't say anymore, instead he just nodded, his lips not leaving hers for even a second.

"Okay?" Ezra asked as Aria wrapped her legs tightly around his waist. With a nod of her head, Aria impatiently awaited for her boyfriend to fill her, the aching between her legs becoming too much.

Without any hesitation, Ezra slid his pulsating length into Aria's drenched core, her hips bucking upwards as she allowed herself to get used to the familiar sensation. "Okay. I'm ready".


	6. Chapter 6

_**This chapters more of a filler, but nonetheless its Ezria. Enjoy!**_

"Ezra!" Aria called out her boyfriends name, her head thrashing from side to side as she reached her final climax of the night. Her hands were clinging tightly on the sheet of the bed, her toes curled as she came down from her high. They both stayed silent for moment, panting and gasping for breath, their gaze locked on one another.

"What about that time?" Ezra questioned, running a hand through his messy hair. Both were covered in sweat, limbs tangled together as if they were one. After the first release that Aria had found, Aria had joked around with him, telling him that she had had better. Obviously Ezra had taken that in the wrong way, as they found themselves going a second time, and then a third and the fourth, and so on. Each time Ezra would ask her the same question, and due to her heavy panting Aria couldn't muster up a reply and they were soon off again.

"I think... I think you hit the spot that time-"Aria stopped, catching her breath back a little more before continuing as she thought for a second. "Definitely hit the spot." With a proud and smug grin, Ezra dragged his length from Aria's drenched core and slipped from above her, curling his lip between his teeth as she let out a choked moan. She felt lost for a moment without him inside of her, but she kept that to herself.

Aria glanced up at the clock on the bedside cabinet, a small smirk upon her lips. She turned on her side to face him, his arm slipping around her in a protective manner.

"How long?" Ezra questioned, arching a curious brow. The time had passed so quickly, but it had kept both of their minds occupied for a while. It'd wiped their minds of all of the stress, the problems, the memories. All of it. It was about them.

"Two hours, thirty minutes. I think that we've just beat our record, Mr Fitz." She shot him a teasing grin, brushing her lips against his. "How did I do? A+?"

"I don't think I'm authorized to answer that, Miss Montgomery. It is highly inappropriate. Having sex with your English teacher is strictly forbidden!"

"That didn't seem to stop you though, did it Mr Fitz? This is just as much your fault as it is mine." Both of them knew that the other was only teasing, they always spoke like this. Truth was, both of them were terrified that someone would find out about them, about the past year and a half they'd spent together. Ezra would be sent to prison, for years. Aria would be sent away somewhere by her Father to hide the humiliation that'd be brought upon them, Byron had promised that.

"Hasn't anyone told you never to seduce your English teacher?"

"Once or twice." Aria giggled lightly at her response, moving her body closer to Ezra's so she could whisper in his ear. "But if I'd of listened to them I would've been missing out on the best thing in my life."

"Can I ask you something?" Ezra asked quietly, dragging the covers from the bottom of the bed over the pair of them as he saw small Goosebumps rise on her arms. They had learnt from past experiences to push all covers, blankets, cushions, anything dark enough to show proof of their activities from the bed. It had been more than embarrassing when Hardy had shown up with his new girlfriend a few months back, and questioned them on the 'obvious' white stain on the sheets. It was the reddest Ezra had ever seen Aria go. Of course they had tried to throw together an explanation, but of course Hardy had none of it and continued to tease them right until the moment he walked out the door. That's when Aria figured that she didn't like Hardy, to a great extent. But she would hold that to herself, for Ezra's sake.

"Sure, what's up?"

"Do you know in class, when I teach you?"

"Oh... English, right?" Aria mocked, emitting a small laugh as she continued. "Come on, spit it out. We don't have all day."

"Do you purposely wear things, /shorter/ than usual to tease me?" It was something that'd been on Ezra's mind for a while. In the morning, Ezra would see Aria wearing something casual, like a skirt or some jeans, but when it came to his class at the end of the day she seemed to have her skirt pulled higher up than he had seen before, or was in an entirely new outfit. "You seem to play with your hair a lot too, and chew on the end of your pen lid. And then there's the way you sway your hips from side to side whilst walking past me.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, Ezra. I just wear whatever I can muster up that day. Why, does it annoy you?" Of course, Aria knew what Ezra was going on about. She loved watching his reaction as she walked through the classroom door in her mid thigh dresses and short skirts. But what she especially loved was the constant gaze Ezra would hold on her whilst everyone was trying to work. Only Aria would notice of course, but she never responded. She acted completely oblivious to him, which obviously tended to frustrate him a lot when he couldn't catch her attention.

"It sure is frustrating when I'm trying to teach a lesson and there you are in the middle row, teasing me like you do. Its inhumane, Aria. Do you expect me to just not stare at you, hm?"

"I must admit it is rather amusing watching you suffer up there in front of everyone, whilst trying to hide the large bulge beneath your trousers. It makes it all so amusing for me."

Ezra narrowed his eyes at his girlfriend, emitting a groan as he brought his hands to cover his face. Out of all of the things she had to notice, it had to be that.

"it's that obvious?"

"You wouldn't believe. Do you remember that lesson when I was wearing that really short skirt? It was then that I realised how much of an effect I had on you. You went all pale. I thought you were going to pass out, if I'm honest with you."

"You're evil, Aria Montgomery. You shouldn't torture your boyfriend, especially somewhere so risky."

"On the contrary, I enjoy torturing you. It's my job. You chose me, Fitz. You're stuck with me forever."

"Promise?" Ezra murmured sleepily, burying his head in the pillow that both of their heads lay on.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily."


	7. Chapter 7

The ringing of the phone sounded the apartment, causing Aria to stir recklessly in her sleep.

They had not said a work about Wesley in the last few days, or about anything else that'd make Ezra lose it. Neither knew what day it was, or how long it was until both were due back at Rosewood, even though Aria was only in for revision lessons, but nonetheless, neither cared, they were focused in the moment, in each other.

It had to have been the third time that the phone rang, but Aria or Ezra hasn't made any attempt to move from their comfortable position in the bed.

"Turn it off." Aria muttered sleepily, her words coming out as mush.

"You turn it off, you're closest." Ezra argued back, turning to face to wall so he could show that he wasn't moving at all, he was standing his ground.

"Asshole." Was all Ezra got as a reply as she pushed the covers from the bed, and raised to her feet, slowly trudging towards the phone to scoop it up just in time.

It was Ezra's phone ringing, over and over again.

"Hello?" Aria said with a yawn, glancing around the small apartment in search of a clock. She spotted one on the back wall, saying it was just past nine.

"Who's this?" The caller questioned rather urgently. Whoever was calling at this time better have had a good explanation.

"This is Aria."

"Ah, yes. Aria. It's Diane, Ezra's mother." Aria went silent for a moment, frantically trying to get Ezra's attention by waving her hands around. Obviously he had fallen back asleep rather quickly, and just laid there unphased. "Hello, Aria? Could you put Ezra on the phone? I have some important news regarding Wesley." Things didn't seem to be getting much better with this conversation. Aria wondered whether it would be a good idea to put Ezra on the phone, she couldn't risk him being the way he was a few days ago.

"Hold on one second." She quickly walked towards Ezra, covering the phone so Diane couldn't hear. "Ezra, wake up!" With a grunt, Ezra only buried himself further under the covers.

"Sleeping. Shh." Ezra hissed, as Aria began pushing on his shoulder.

"Ezra it's your mother!"

That made Ezra shoot up from the bed, shaking a finger furiously at Aria as he did so.

"I don't want to talk to her. Tell her I'm out, or I'm dead or something." Aria shot Ezra a glare at his last comment, slapping his arm to receive a small since from the 25 year old.

"Take the phone."

"No! You speak to her!" Ezra put on his charming smile, before jutting out his bottom lip. "Please?"

"Actually, Ezra's sleeping right now, so he can't come to the phone. How about I pass on the message"

"I was really hoping to talk to him, actually. I recently had a letter through, about Wes." For the first time, Aria felt sorry for the woman. She had just lost her son, the only one she had left. It must've been hard.

"I'll break the news to him once he's woken up after a good nights sleep. Maybe then Ezra won't be as emotional." She was proud of her lie, she could say that. By now Ezra had managed to drag a reluctant Aria to sit on his stomach, watching her expressions carefully. Ezra knew that he couldn't pretend to be upset, he wanted to tell everyone about what Wes had done.

"Oh, of course. I'm terribly sorry for keeping him in the dark about this, I've just been trying to get my head around it all if I'm honest. I thought I'd put Ezra's mind at rest. How is he holding out?"

Aria had two options here; Tell the truth, and explain everything, or lie. Obviously, she chose the latter.

"He's broken, if I'm honest. He seems to have lightened up a little as time has past but you can really see how much Ezra loved Wesley." This got a raised eyebrow from Ezra, as he tried to hold in his laughter. Of course Aria would pity the woman and make up a sob story about how cut up he was. She began tracing patterns along her boyfriends chest, sending shivers through his body.

"Oh, the poor boy. I'm sure he's desperate to lay this all to rest."

"You could say that."

"Anyway. Back to the synopsis. As you may have heard Wesley had gone away with some friends, for a weekend. It wasn't until the Tuesday that I realised something was wrong and called the police." Aria could hear Diane's voice breaking on the other end of the phone, as she tried her absolute hardest not to cry. "We sent out searches for him, only to find him dead in the cabin. The police put it down to suffocation."

"Wesley was murdered?" Aria spluttered, her hands freezing on Ezra's chest. Ezra's smile wiped from his face in an instant, seriousness crossing his face.

"I.. I think so. Listen, I need to go. But it would be spectacular if you could be at Wes' funeral. Ezra could say a little something. Two days from now, the 7th."

"We'll definitely be there, Diane. I'll pass on the message to Ezra and have him call you." With that the line went dead, and Aria threw it down beside Ezra.

"Did you just agree to what I think you did?" Ezra sighed, resting his hands on his girlfriends thighs.

"Well if you're referring to Wesley's funeral, then yes. We're paying our respects."

"No. I'm not going." How could Aria be so foolish? Pay respect to the guy- correction, the little boy who couldn't keep his hands away from his girlfriend.

"Yes. You are going, you're going to show your mother how upset you are."

"If only I was upset. I refuse to go." Aria raised a brow, running through his many weaknesses in her head that could be used against him. And then one hit her, she could use her position on his stomach to her advantage.

"Please..." Aria whispered softly, dragging herself back to brush against the bulge beneath his boxers.

"No." Ezra choked his words out, glaring at her actions. "You're not torturing me into saying yes."

"Say yes and I'll stop." Aria only continued her actions, gliding her underwear across him, going back and forth continuously. Ezra's head dropped backwards, his hips lifting off the bed.

"Stop it." Ezra spat through gritted teeth, grasping any piece of her he could in an attempt to stop her. It frustrated Ezra how easily Aria could get to him, she knew every detail on how to get to him, and always used it to her advantage. Of course, he had his fair share of tricks that could he used against her but that was different.

Just to add to his frustration, Aria began to let out loud moans, her movements speeding up as curled her lips between her teeth. The thing that got to Ezra most was that he could /feel/ how much she was enjoying this, his eyes rolling backwards as he groaned.

"Okay, fine! You win. I'll go." With a smug grin, Aria removed herself from above her Boyfriends now fully grown length, glancing down at him as she made sure to have a distance between them both before speaking.

"I promised you'd do a speech too, did I mention that I love you?" Working it like the innocent was the best thing to do, as she saw him shoot her a stern look.

"You frustrate me sometimes."

"But... You love me." With a small shrug, Aria settled her hands on her hips, swaying them from side to side in a teasing manner. "Hungry?"

"No, not now. Not now I have to go to Wesley's funeral, and tell everyone how much I apparently love him. Thanks a bunch."

"Stop moaning Ezra, you're going."

He rolled his eyes, turning his back on his girlfriend, folding his arms tightly over his chest. "Stop being so childish."

"Says the 18 year old!" Ezra snapped back, shaking his head.

"Oh, now we're being like this are we? Okay then, I'll just go shall I? If you're going to be so idiotic about this"

"I'll only be forced to drag you back inside again.

"So you're going, correct?"

After a minute of silence, Ezra raised up from the bed, running a hand through his hair as he trudged into the bathroom.

"Whatever, but you're coming with me."

That was good enough for Aria.


	8. Chapter 8

"I'm not wearing this!" Ezra groaned from behind the bathroom door, Aria folding her arms over her chest. As amusing as it was to listen to him throw himself about like a five year old, they didn't have this time to waste. It'd already taken her an hour to drag him out of bed, and then another to convince him to get ready. The guy was stubborn when he wanted to be.

"Ezra, we're going to be late. Hurry it up and get out here." Hearing a groan behind the door, Ezra pulled open the bathroom door, shoving his hands in his pockets. Aria couldn't help but spread a wide smile at the sight before her. He was wearing a dark suit that Aria had picked out the day before, it wasn't anything fancy, but it'd do for Wesley's funeral.

"I can't believe you're making me go to this."

"You're acting like a baby, Ezra. Stop moaning, stop fussing, and look upset." She pointed a finger at him, grasping up her phone before moving towards the mirror. On her way back from purchasing Ezra's suit, she had stopped by at her Father's house to pick up some fresh clothes, and a dress for the funeral. Of course, Byron hadn't been happy about her leaving again, but obviously Aria wouldn't have listened to him. Mike, as per usual was nowhere to be seen. She had decided on a short black dress, which went out slightly at the waist. It was plain black, except the thing silver belt around the waist. She had to look formal, especially if Diane was going to be there. Aria had curled the ends of her hair, so it bounced off her shoulders, shaping her thin face.

One thing that Aria hated about herself was her pale complexion, it just didn't look right. Ezra would always disagree, but Aria would always put make up on whenever they would leave the apartment. He slipped up behind his girlfriend, snaking his arms around her waist to rest his chin upon her shoulder.

"We could always go back to bed, I'm sure that I'll enjoy removing that dress a lot more than going out." It was more of a plea than anything, Ezra couldn't face his mother. Not now, not ever.

"As amazing as that sounds, we're still going." Aria turned in her boyfriends arms, reaching up to tie his jet black tie. "Now, do you have your speech planned?"

This was what Aria was worried about. If Ezra said the wrong thing, or lost his temper and spilled everything to the hundreds of people there. That couldn't happen. Ezra cleared his throat, emitting a fake sniffle before beginning to speak in a sarcastic tone.

"Wesley was an amazing brother, who always seemed to show me how important family was. Growing up, he was there. Always there for me and my mother during the complicated times. I can't thank him enough for what he's done. At least we know that he died a good man, and brought happiness to us all."

"Good. Now stick to that and we'll be out of there in no time."

Aria and Ezra were surprisingly on time, and rushed to the front beside his mother. Already, she was drenched in tears. Aria could tear her eyes from her for longer than a few minutes, a saddened expression on her features. Ezra, on the other hand refused to look at his mother, he wasn't to show any signs of compassion towards her, or show any weakness. That'd make him care, pity her. He couldn't do that.

Neither paid attention to what anybody was to say, it was just people rambling on about how amazing Wesley was, how hilarious he was, how he never failed to put a smile on their faces.

Diana moved to the front next, several pieces of paper in one hand.

"Great." Ezra muttered sarcastically under his breath, only to receive an elbow in the side by Aria.

"Stop being such a jerk, Ezra."

What was Ezra doing here? Why had he been dragged here by Aria? All Ezra wanted was to forget about this, about Wesley. About the family that'd dragged him through the dirt all of these years. His life was with Aria now, not them. This was why he hoped to be with Aria forever. He and Aria would have their own family, and unlike the family he grew up in, they would love them. That was how it would work. So many times, Ezra had thought of this. Where they would live, what they'd do.

"... and now my son, Ezra will say a few words about Wesley himself." It was Aria who glanced up, her eyes moving to meet Ezra's. He seemed to be completely lost, his eyes staring straight ahead, but nothing was going through to him.

"Ezra, you're up." Aria said, nudging him in the side once more. Ezra's eyes darted around for a moment, before he strode to the front of the large church, and cleared his throat, just as he had done before.

There was something about the way Ezra glanced at her; it told Aria that he wasn't prepared to say what he had practiced. As he caught her eye once more, she firmly shook her head at him, telling him that doing this wasn't the answer.

"What can I say about my brother Wesley? He was definitely unique. I especially admired Wesley for how determined he was." Ezra paused, quickly taking a look at Aria who was still holding her breath. He was going okay so far. "When Wesley set his mind to something, or someone I might add; he will manipulate them, fill their heads with what they want to believe, he'll fill their heads with lies, make them feel things that they don't want to feel. And then, that's when he takes advantage. Wesley's definitely a Fitzgerald, because wants he's set his mind on something, he won't stop until he's got it."

Even Ezra didn't know where that came from. It was what he had been thinking this past week. This was what he needed to get out. He glanced up at the audience, only to see everyone staring at him in complete disgust, utter disgrace. His eyes then moved to meet his mothers, who was shaking her head. And then Aria? She wasn't even there. She was halfway out the door, actually.

"Aria..." Ezra murmured, speedily walking out to catch her up. He was getting plenty of glares, but he couldn't of cared less. Without a glance back, Aria continued down the path, her high stilettos clanking on the concrete. "Aria!"

"Leave me alone." Aria spat harshly, throwing her bag over her shoulder. How could he have done this? He had _promised_ her that he would try to make an effort. She had come between them.

"Where are you going?!"

"I'm going home Ezra."

"Aria, stop."

"What?!" Aria snapped, spinning on her heals to face the boyfriend she couldn't even look at right now. "Why would you do that? How could you do that? You promised Ezra! Swore to me that you wouldn't hold this grudge against him!"

"A grudge? Aria what did you expect me to do? For crying out loud, how was I not supposed to say anything? Do you remember what he did? Because I certainly do."

"This isn't about you, okay?! You weren't there. You didn't have to squirm beneath him, you didn't have to cry for help. You weren't there. So don't pretend that I'm in your best interests here, Ezra. This is about _you_."

Ezra let out a loud scoff, rolling his eyes as he raised his hands into the air.

"What did you expect me to do, huh? Pretend that nothing has changed? Because it has, everything's changed. Yes, this is about me. Do you know how /hard/ it is for to even think about it? Wesley took advantage, just like I said. He manipulated you, and he didn't stop until he got what he wanted."

"Well if you weren't there. You left me. You left me alone. If you hadn't of left me, then this wouldn't of happened. This is your fault." Aria yelled, her adrenaline rush kicking in at this point. Her heart was pumping as fast as it could go, she was shaking. In an instant she was filled with guilt, a pain at the bottom of her stomach telling her that what she said was wrong. It wasn't his fault. Ezra's eyes filled with tears, her words hitting him harder than when he had first found out about all of this. "Ezra... I didn't mean that..."

"Yes, you did. And you're right." Ezra's voice cracked nearer the end of his words. Aria took a step forward, holding her hand out before moving into his arms, tightly wrapping her own around his waist.

"Ezra? What's going on?" A familiar voice rang from behind them, causing Ezra to spin around.


	9. Chapter 9

"Well?" Diane Fitzgerald tapped her foot impatiently, folding her arms tightly across her chest.

After Ezra's humiliating speech, nobody could bring themselves to say anything. She thinks that they were all so shocked by it, but actually, it was because what Ezra had said, was 100% accurate. They all knew Wes. For his humour, his caring side. But also, they knew how Wesley could get when he wanted something. Diane had excused herself, laughing it off as nothing more than a little bit of Fitz humour, and quickly rushed outside to question Ezra himself.

"Not the time." Ezra commented, loosening his arms around Aria so that he could turn properly to face his unamused Mother. "We're going home."

"What were you both talking about? When I came out here. What's Wesley done?" There was a hint of sarcasm in her voice as she trailed off, emitting a slight scoff. Ezra glanced down at his girlfriend, as if he was asking for her permission to tell his mother what was going on. As he had guessed, Aria almost un noticeably shook her head no, keeping her head buried in Ezra's chest to hide herself away from Diane. That was the last thing she needed right now.

Thankfully, Aria had made sure to wear waterproof mascara, just in case she was to have to cry. The rest of her make up on the other hand was completely gone, washed off by her tears.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" Ezra rolled his eyes skywards, letting out a small groan as his mother continued to torment them. Neither of them were saying a word, and that frustrated Diane. What was so important that she wasn't allowed to know what they were talking- No. What they were screaming about. It had to of been something interesting, or else they wouldn't be doing it here, in a churchyard. At her sons funeral.

"I said, not now Mother." This time Ezra's voice was harsher, really trying to get his point across that now he wasn't joking around, he wasn't talking to her. "Me and Aria are going home now, so we'll speak soon." He intertwined his hands with Aria's, beginning to pull her down the thin pathway along with him. Usually, graves would creep Aria out. She wasn't the best person to watch a horror movie with.

"No. You're not leaving." She spat out, causing Ezra and Aria to stop in their tracks and turn around to face her. She didn't look the least bit happy, she looked ready to kill. If looks could kill, they'd be six feet under. "You've humiliated me, humiliated our family in front of everyone. Why, huh? Why? The least you can do is come and pay your respects, just like you promised."

As reluctant as Ezra was, Aria stopped him from spilling everything by speaking instead, giving his hand a quick squeeze to keep him quiet.

"An hour, we'll stay for an hour. That's all." Aria glanced up at him, offering him a small smile as he shot her a confused look, shaking his head once.

"Aria, I really don't...-"He began, only to be cut off by his mother this time, clapping her hands together.

"I'll meet you at the house, ten minutes."

With a nod of his head, Ezra pulled his hands free from Aria's, trudging down the pathway with the same attitude he had used against her this morning.

Aria and Ezra had arrived a little later than the rest of the close family and friends, for the reason that Ezra had decided to take the long route, drive slower than usual, and stop every now and then to check his 'important emails'. Sooner or later Aria had had enough and had ordered Ezra to drive like normal.

They were greeted by Wesley's group of friends, who weren't the slightest bit phased about Ezra's speech. To be honest, no one was. No one really seemed to care, or they were trying to show that they didn't.

To say that Ezra felt uncomfortable about all this was an understatement. Being back at the house he'd grown up in made him want to run away, just like he had done years ago. It was over the top, uptight and just showed how up their own backsides his family really were.

After excusing himself from Aria's side, he disappeared up the stairs, heading towards the bathroom. He planned to hide in their for a little while, just to keep out of everyone's way. It was then that Ezra noticed Ezra's old bedroom was door slightly open, causing him to stop in his tracks.

He pushed the door open a little further, the walls now painted a jet black colour, completely camouflaging it as if this room wasn't seen. This definitely was no longer Ezra's room, he could see that. His eyes furrowed in confusion, slightly perplexed as to what this place was. Nearer the end was a laptop, illuminating the room up.

Ezra made his way towards it, accidentally bashing his hip on the side of the cabinet, a small wince emitting from his lips as he heard something hit the floor. A moment of silence followed whilst he waited for the yelling up the stairs, but nothing came. All that was heard was the sound of a voice. A very familiar voice, coming from the laptop. Quickly moving towards it, he took a seat on the chair, switching on the computer screen to see what was causing the noise.

"Wes, don't you dare. Put the camera down!" Ezra felt sick. Because there, on the screen in front of him was none other than his girlfriend, Aria Montgomery. "You're not filming me, no way. I look terrible in the morning!" She covered her face with the palms of her hands, turning away from the camera. That's when it cut off, and Ezra was about to switch the video off when another one popped up, this time from a few seconds later. This happened four times, before Ezra crossed off the window, the screen popping up at a folder. It wasn't the hundreds of photos and videos that freaked out Ezra, it was the name of it. The girl in the photos, it was all Aria.

By now, Ezra was beyond angry, and his hands began to furiously shake as he clicked through each and every photo and video, his breath shaky. Most were of her around the apartment, watching the TV, making breakfast. Etc. The last few, though was enough to make Ezra want to scream, pass out and throw up all at the same time. These were taken whilst Aria was sleeping. Her hair falling over her naked frame.

He quickly switched off the screen, his eyes furiously darting around the room to try and search for more of this.. stalking. It was the black book on the floor that caught his attention, overflowing with papers and pictures. Ezra needed to get out of there, before he completely lost it. He scooped up the book on his way out, trying to pull himself together as he searched for his girlfriend.

Ezra spotted Aria in the hallway, standing rather uncomfortably beside his Aunt. She looked like she was babbling on as usual, but obviously Aria wasn't listening. He refused to tell her a thing, not quite yet. He would tell her, when they got back to the apartment.

"Aria, we've got to go." Ezra urged, grasping her by the arm and pulling her out the door as quickly as he could.

This was too far, Wesley was lucky that he was dead.

Because if he was alive right now, Ezra would've killed him himself. Hunted him down and made sure that he was dead.


	10. Chapter 10

Aria was slightly worried about him right now.

The whole way home, Ezra hasn't said a single word, or even looked at her properly. It would be a quick glance, and then he'd try and smile but nothing would show.

He seemed upset, as if he was closing himself off and Aria wanted to know why, before she began to go insane.

As they pulled up outside the apartment, Ezra slid out of the car without a word, making his was up the stairs.

"Thanks, Ezra." Aria joked, her voice laced with sarcasm. She followed him silently inside, her eyes catching a glimpse of something in his hand, a book. "What's that?"

Ezra didn't say a single word, instead he just unlocked the door and pushed it wide open, immediately throwing down his suit jacket and tie.

"Ezra." Aria repeated, setting her bag upon the table. She pointed at the book in his hand, arching a questioning brow. "Where did you find that?"

Now, Ezra had two options here. One, was to tell her the truth, and tell Aria that his brother had been practically stalking her. Taking videos, pictures, most unknown about by her.

And then two, act like nothing's happened.

Frankly, he liked the latter.

"What? Nothing." Ezra shrugged, setting the book behind his back before opening his arms, motioning for her to come closer. "Come here."

Despite Aria's curiosity, she wanted nothing more than to climb into his lap and forget about today. And that, is exactly what she did.

Emitting a small sigh, Aria pulled the small cardigan from her body, and set it down on the couch, quickly shuffling into Ezra's lap.

"I'm sorry I made you go today."

"Don't apologise, Aria."

"I shouldn't of dragged you out.." Aria began, blowing out a small sigh.

"Stop being so hard on yourself, and cuddle me. I miss being able to cuddle you. I miss you." She didn't know what to say then, Aria was right here with him. She hadn't left in almost two weeks.

"I'm still here, Ezra. I'm not going anywhere."

"Don't leave me..." Ezra whispered almost silently, wrapping his arms tightly around his petite girlfriends tiny body. Aria settled in his arms, getting comfortable against his chest. "I need you here with me."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise?"

"I promise you, I won't leave you. I'll sort something out, promise you."

"You know, the first time I saw you I was so surprised. I didn't know that someone could be so much alike me. I wanted you there and then. It was crazy, it's why I didn't give up on us." That was enough to make Aria smile until Christmas.

"I love you, Ezra Fitz."

"I know, and I love you too."

They stayed in silence for a while, enjoying each others company. Over the past few days all they had done is flirt, and act like one of the couples that'd just be in it for the sexual activities. Obviously, they weren't. They had been acting weird, and both just wanted to get back to their usual self.

—-

It only took about an hour to fall asleep in his arms, snoring almost inaudibly as she turned in his arms, trying to regain a comfortable stance.

Ezra on the other hand, was wide awake. He just couldn't switch off. The book was fresh in his mind, he needed to know what was in it. Slowly, he tried to drag Aria from his chest, emitting a small sigh as she clung tightly to his shirt. After ten minutes of trying to pull her away, she let go reluctantly, setting her down on the couch before pulling the thin blanket over her body.

She looked peaceful sleeping, and obviously his brother though so too. He picked up the small book from behind the couch as silently as he could, walking towards the window before pulling it open. Immediately, pages fell out and floated to the floor, splaying about on the floor. With furrowed brows, Ezra opened the book to the middle page, scanning through it. It was just times, places, dates. It didn't make sense.

Was all of this Aria's? Was Wesley so sick and twisted that he had to mark down where she was and at what time? Ezra was about to explode. He was shaking again, trying to read on but he couldn't bring himself to it. This couldn't of been real. This time last week Ezra's life was fine. He loved his brother, his girlfriend. They were a sort of family. And now, all Ezra wanted was revenge. For doing all of this to his innocent girlfriend. He supposed most people would be mad at Aria, but Ezra didn't blame her at all. She didn't cause this, it was all Wesley.

With a loud shout, Ezra threw the book in any direction, sending it flying into the wall.

Aria jumped up in fright, frantically searching for whatever had made the loud noise. She was dreaming happily, in a deep sleep until all of this. Her eyes connected with Ezra's, the dark look in his eyes frightening her slightly, and then she saw the huge crack in the wall, papers flying all over the place.

"What the hell happened?" Aria questioned in a mumble, pushing the covers from her body to stand up.

"You need to leave, Aria." Ezra replied coldly, turning to face the window so he couldn't see her expression. Aria didn't need this. She didn't need this fucked up life that he had brought her into. If Aria hadn't of met Ezra in the bar, then she wouldn't of been touched by Wesley.

"What're you talking about?"

"You need to go. I can't have you here." With a raised brow, Aria took a small step towards him, until she was merely a few inches away.

"Ezra? What's gotten into you, Hm? We were fine an hour ago." She was beyond confused. They were fine, cuddled in each others arms and now, now he was turning his back on her.

"I realised I'm not good for you."

"Don't be an idiot." With a roll of her eyes, Aria began walking towards the small book, wanting to know what'd changed him so quickly. "What's in this anyway? You didn't tell me what it is." As Aria pulled open the first page her heart sank to her stomach, and she emitted a small sob. Because there, in clear letters on the first page was only a few words, but each made her feel sick to her stomach.

I love Aria.

It was revolting, stupid and plain childish. As if a twelve year old had written it.

"What the hell is this?" Aria demanded, flicking through the pages of notes and writing. "Where did you find this?"

"Wesley's room, there's pictures, videos, everything."

"But..."

"There's pictures of you sleeping, Aria." She emitted a small gasp, folding her arms tightly over her chest as she leant against the wall. "Like I said, I'm not good for you."

"Shut up, Ezra. You've made me the person I am today."

"This wouldn't of happened if I hadn't of met you. You'd be fine, you'd be happy."

"I am happy..." Ezra let out a loud scoff, running a hand through his hair.

"And what about in a few years, Hm? When you're still reminded of what Wesley did? You'll blame me, just like you did earlier. You were right, it just took me this long to realise it."

She pushed her lips out in a pout, frowning lightly. Earlier on she was angry at Ezra, for completely humiliating her in front of everyone. People were sure to catch on now. That's what Aria couldn't handle, people finding out. She'd be known as weak.

"I didn't... Ezra. Look at me." Ezra turned slowly to face her, keeping a straight and serious face as he watched her. "I was the one who trusted him, let him in and I provoked him. Stop blaming yourself. You went to see your son, what's bad about that? I'm not going to blame you for caring."

"Caring? Jesus Christ, Aria! If I had cared, I wouldn't of gone! I was so hooked up in seeing Malcolm that you came last! That's not okay." With a loud groan, Ezra moved towards the kitchen, pulling several glasses from the cupboard.

"Ezra.. What're you doing?" With that he emitted a loud shout, throwing the glasses in any which way that he could. Each smashed into tiny shards, making loud clashes as they hit the floor. "Ezra, stop it!" Aria began to panic, rushing towards him so she could try and calm him down. She'd never seen him like this, ever. He never got this angry.

"Don't. Just... Don't." Ezra muttered, bringing his hands to his face. "Go." Aria didn't move, which aggravated Ezra. He wanted what was best for her, this was it. In an instant he had enclosed the space between then, and grasped at her arms." GET. OUT."

"Ezra, you're hurting me.." Aria winced, trying to pull her arms from his tight grips. She was terrified, shaking uncontrollably as his nails dug into the skin of her arms. This was exactly like that night. She let out a sob, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Ezra."

It was then that Ezra stepped back, his jaw dropping as he realised what had just happened. He tried to mutter out an apology, but he was so shocked at himself for his actions that he couldn't speak, instead he just hurried into the bathroom, and slammed the door shut behind him.

Aria stood still, frozen in the last few moments.

What the fuck had just happened?


	11. Chapter 11

It'd been an hour.

An hour of complete silence, just sitting on the floor behind the bathroom door. The door had opened and closed not too long ago, but Ezra put everything he had in not going after her. It was torture enough, not going to see if she was okay after listening to her cry. That was what complete rock bottom felt like.

He was in complete shock. How could he have done something to Aria like that? How had he stooped to that level? Hurt her, lost his temper.

He didn't know what to call it. It was stupid, idiotic, crazy.

The look on her face, the tears that rolled down her cheeks as she begged him to let go.

He needed to apologise, he knew that much.

Ezra couldn't let Wesley's stalking get in the way now, he couldn't hold this grudge against him. It was for Aria's sake, he had thought about it. And now, now he had to move on with it.

But then, the thing is he couldn't. Whenever he was to think of Wesley, the anger would just build, until he had clenched his fists so hard they would turn white.

He pulled himself together, forcing himself to wipe Wesley from his mind before exiting the bathroom, glancing around the room. As predicted, Aria wasn't there. Her bag and cardigan was missing, but her clothes were still sat in a case atop of the drawers, so she hadn't left him completely.

Time, that was what they needed. Some time to breath? After Ezra had apologised. That was what he was most worried about, Aria feeling like he didn't care. Dammit, he did. More than anything. She was Ezra's world. All that he had left and he was not going to let her go that easily.

So now it was all on focusing on finding his girlfriend. Aria wouldn't go home, she wouldn't speak to her father. Her mothers maybe? No, it was too late. She wouldn't want to do that. Her friends? They'd listen to her. But then she would've taken her things with her, or stayed the night.

Then something hit him, and he knew exactly where Aria would be.

After grabbing a jacket, Ezra stepped out into the pouring rain, emitting a groan.

Right now, Aria regretted not picking up a thicker jacket. Her clothes were drenched, her hair was soaked and she couldn't feel her toes or fingers. They were going a different colour.

On the bright side, the rain camouflaged her tears.

It hurt Aria, to know that Ezra had lost it with her. In more ways than some. Her arms were fine, except a small patch of bruising. Nothing she didn't expect. She couldn't bring herself to think of it, what had happened. It ripped Aria from the inside out.

She had absolutely no idea how she had ended up at this bench. It was quiet, and right in front of the playground that'd she had been taken to as a child by her Father.

"I thought you'd be here." A voice rung from behind Aria, but she remained still. This was the last thing Aria needed.

"How did you find me?" She grumbled, folding her arms across her chest to keep herself warm. It didn't help, of course. Her teeth began to chatter.

"I come here a lot, I thought that maybe you would to. And I'm right." Aria didn't know whether or not to reply, so she instead stayed silent. "We need to talk about this, Aria."

"Well I don't. I don't want to think about it, or talk about it, it's done."

"I didn't mean to..-" Ezra began, pulling his jacket from his body to hold it out to her. As much as she wanted to turn him down, she needed it. "I didn't mean to lose it, or take it out on you."

"I know."

"I was stupid, and I'm sorry."

"I know."

"Now you're just being stubborn."

Aria rolled her eyes, shuffling in the opposite direction as Ezra took a seat beside her on the bench.

"Shut up, Ezra. Go back to the apartment."

"I'm not going anywhere until we've sorted this out."

Aria raised to her fine then, only to sit straight back down as Ezra spoke. "Sit."

"So sort it." She spat, refusing to look him directly in the eye. "I don't see what you expect me go say, Ezra."

"Say you understand, that you get why I completely lost it in there." Ezra paused for a moment, reaching out to take her hand in his own. "That you forgive me."

"I don't.." With a sigh, Aria glanced down at their hands, caught between pulling away and holding on as right as she cause. "You're sleeping on the couch tonight, no exceptions."

"Okay, okay. I can deal with that."

"And you're making me breakfast"

"Don't push it, Aria."


	12. Chapter 12

Ezra felt like he had to make it up to Aria, for causing her such pain the previous night. Obviously, Aria had asked to forget about it all and just move on, but Ezra refused to do that. He had physically hurt her, and that wasn't okay.  
He made sure to wake up earlier than Aria, pulling himself from the couch. After they arrived back at the apartment the night before, Aria had tried to convince him to come into bed, but Ezra kept his word and insisted on sleeping on the couch. She wasn't up for arguing, so she just rolled her eyes and went to bed, completely ignoring him.  
It was breakfast that'd help him make it up to her. It was stupid and cliché, but then again it was all he could think of whilst she was sleeping. She was stubborn, and definitely wouldn't except gifts of any sort.  
Before Ezra made breakfast, he took a seat beside a sleeping Aria on the bed, running his fingertips along her cheek in a soothing manner. She stirred once or twice, but still didn't awaken. That was the thing about Aria. She was a heavy sleeper.  
With that he made his way to the kitchen, pulling out the ingredients that he would need to make her breakfast.  
"Morning." Aria said from behind him, folding her arms loosely over her chest. Her eyes stayed anywhere but his. Of course, she felt awkward and uncomfortable, how else was she supposed to feel? It wasn't as much the arguing, it was the fact that he had turned her down when she asked him to sleep with her. It was embarrassing.  
"Good Morning, sleep okay?" Ezra questioned, plating up all of the different foods onto a plate, before setting it aside and turning to face her.  
"It was okay, a little cold I guess." He caught on to what she was trying to put across, emitting a small chuckle. It was cold without Ezra there, she was trying to make him feel guilty about not sleeping in the bed.  
But instead of making a comment that could possibly lead to another argument, Ezra instead opened out his arms, jutting out his bottom lip. Without any hesitation, Aria ran straight into them, burying her face into Ezra's chest as her arms spread around his waist, emitting a small sniffle.  
"I love you." Aria murmured, pulling her face back to that she could look him straight in the eye. He pressed a small kiss to her forehead, lingering his lips against her skin for a moment.  
"I love you, Aria Montgomery. Don't you ever forget that." With a small smile, Ezra pressed another kiss to her lips. It wasn't passionate, or sloppy. It was the perfect way to show Aria that he loved her. "I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to grow old with you, and spend every second of every minute of every day saying that I love you."  
"You're so mushy sometimes." Aria let out a small giggle, slipping her hands from around him to run up his chest, gripping his face.  
"It's called being romantic, but if that means being mushy then so be it." He rolled his shoulders in a shrug, spreading a smug grin.  
"You are quite the romantic, I must admit." Aria caught sight of the breakfast beside Ezra, running her tongue over her lips. "Is that for me?"  
"It was an 'I'm sorry' breakfast. I wanted to make it up for you." She rolled her eyes, reaching behind him to pick up a piece of bacon and pop it into her mouth. "How'd I do?"  
"You always make the best breakfasts, I have to say." She took another piece of bacon, continuing to do so until the plate was empty. "But now, you aren't allowed to try make anything else up to me."  
"I need to. It helps with all of the guilt."  
Aria blew out a small sigh, grasping at his hand to run it along her arm. The bruising had faded a little now, and wasn't all that noticeable.  
"I'm fine, Ezra. Stop it."  
"But...-" Aria cut off Ezra by smashing her lips to his own, biting down roughly on his bottom lip. It was the best distraction, the best way to prove that she was truly okay. After a few moments she pulled away slightly, dragging her hands along his chest.  
"Stop. Just stop it."  
"Aria..." She shook her head, biting down once more on his lip.  
"Stop it. Now."  
With a sigh, Ezra just nodded, staying silent about the matter. He wasn't going to annoy her anymore, or agrue.  
"What do you want to do today?" He paused for a second, glad that he had changed the subject before continuing. "Pick anything, anything you like."  
"I have a few ideas..." Aria began with a small smirk, grasping his hands in her own.

They decided on a usual day in, as they used to do before all of this happened. It consisted of a black and white movie, one they had seen over a billion times. But that didn't matter to Aria or Ezra, because they just enjoyed each others company.  
Aria was settled happily in front of Ezra as they both laid on the sofa, hands entangled with one another. Aria would always find it interesting, playing with his fingers as they held hands. It was a good distraction.

It seemed to relax Ezra, all of the drama, all of the worries, all of the anger seemed to just poof. As if it never happened at all. It was as though they were back in the loved up days. When there wasn't some kind of awkwardness between them both, or when they thought that the only way to say I love you was to make out, or have sex.  
That wasn't them, it never had been. Aria and Ezra were the type of people that would watch old movies, and read poetry, make each other dinner. It was their thing. Romantic, and mushy. It's how they worked. Always had been.  
And both of them just wanted to get back to normal again.  
"Are you asleep yet?" Aria joked, a shudder running through her body as she felt Ezra's hot breath on the back of her neck. If he wasn't asleep yet, he sure would be soon.  
He could barely keep his eyes open. Mainly because he was up half the night worrying about Aria, and he had hurt her. Also, the couch wasn't all that comfortable when you're laid there alone.  
There was two ways to bring Ezra down to this state. One, was to feel Aria's touch, running along his skin. The second, was his hair. Aria had all of these noted, along with a few others that she'd picked up on over the past year and a half. It made her feel powerful, like she had a hold on him whenever she was to use these two things against him.  
Of course, she had her own fair share of weaknesses, but Aria's were more well hidden. It took more than just a tug of her hair.  
"Hmm." Was all Aria got out of her sleepy boyfriend, his arm tightening around her waist. Ezra pulled her flush against him, tucking his leg between her own.  
"Is that a yes?"  
"No, it's a hmm." Aria couldn't help but giggle lightly at the tone of his voice, she loved his tired voice. Like a deep murmur.  
"And what does a hmm mean, exactly?"  
"It means hmm. Now shush, I'm sleepy." Aria pushed out her bottom lip, continuing to fumble around with his fingers.  
"What if I want cuddles? I haven't had them in a while."  
"You had cuddles yesterday, and right now." Ezra argued, way too tired to think about anything that left his lips. "Can I sleep now?"  
She shook her head, dragging both of their hands towards her lips to brush a kiss along his fingertips. "That tickles."  
Aria turned to face him, a small smile twisting at the ends of her lips as she saw his expression. His eyes were already closed, his face buried in the cushion. She began to unbutton the buttons on his shirt, just so she could run trace patterns along his chest with her free hand.  
Ezra let out an almost inaudible groan at her actions, shuddering every now and then.  
"So does that, stop." Despite Ezra's words, Aria continued to roam her fingers along his skin. "Aria..." This was slightly amusing to Aria, she loved frustrating him. He folded his arms tightly across his chest, shaking his head No. "Stop... I want to sleep..."  
She frowned lightly, leaning in to brush her lips against his. Despite his tiredness, Ezra responded, pushing out his lips to meet hers.  
"You call that a kiss?" Aria rolled her eyes at her boyfriends words, this time pressing her lips to his a little rougher. "Keep going, you're almost there." Ezra murmured, pulling his hands free from her own to cling to her sides. Aria pressed her lips too Ezra's once more, tugging at the ends of his hair with her now free hands.  
"How was that for you?" Aria questioned, arching a curious brow.  
"That was extraordinary. Good job, Montgomery."  
"I aim to please." Aria tried to love away from the sofa, feeling slightly hungry again. Ezra, on the other hand obviously had other ideas, and tightened his arms around her petite frame, shaking his head.  
"No. Keep still."  
"I want some food..." She groaned, trying to push herself away from him.  
"Don't make me tickle you." Aria let out a gasp, furiously pushing at his chest.  
"Ezra, don't even think about it, you can't do that."  
Instead of listening to her pleas, Ezra began to furiously tickle his girlfriends sides, trying to hold in any laughter that dared to slip through his lips.  
Aria squealed under his hold, letting out giggles and screams as he continued to tickle her.  
"Ezra, stop!"  
"What's the magic word?" Ezra teased.  
Aria spoke through gritted teeth, squirming around under his hold. "Please." He instantly let go then, receiving yet another shove in the chest from Aria. "I hate you."  
"No, you don't." Aria groaned in defeat, pushing her lips out in a pout.  
"I know, I don't. I love you."  
"I know you do, Aria. I love you too."  
"Love you more." He faked a scoff, tutting.  
"You wish."  
"Shut up, Ezra." Aria locked her arms around Ezra's neck, toying with the ends of his hair. "Still sleepy?"  
He nodded, briefly closing his eyes at the feeling of Aria's hands in his hair.  
"You can sleep now." She shuffled closer to him, fingers still latched in his hair.  
"Thank you."  
With that he buried his head in the cushion again, murmuring out inaudible words until he fell asleep.

It was then that Aria splayed a small smile on her features, not wanting to ever be without Ezra Fitz


	13. Chapter 13

It was past noon when either of the awoke the next morning. Aria woke up first, trying to stretch out the best she could from within Ezra's grasp. He had one arm hooked behind her thighs, whilst the other was around her waist, and he didn't look like he was moving anytime soon.

The last week was a blur, totally wiped out in there opinion and they had both agreed never to speak of it again. Aria, was the happiest about this. Angry Ezra scared her, to a great extent. It was as though he wasn't himself. He was someone else.

After a few minutes of running her fingertips along Ezra's shoulders beneath the shirt, she managed to slowly unlace herself from his grip, and slip from the sofa.

Obviously it was too late for breakfast, so she opted on making something a little more dinner time.

She quickly made a peanut butter sandwich, and pulled herself up onto the counter, childishly swinging her legs back and forth. Aria wanted to do something today, not just stay locked up in the apartment like they usually would. She wanted to do something couply. Not go to a restaurant an hour away. That wasn't it. Something romantic and mushy, and them.

Her mind began rolling with thoughts of what they would do, where they would go.

But she couldn't decide on just one thing, and Ezra hadn't even agreed to it yet.

Ezra was more of the mushy type, and would rather stay curled up with Aria in bed watching a movie. It was cliché, and yes they both loved it; but they did that everyday.

It was her boyfriend stirring on the couch that pulled her from her thoughts, and she couldn't help but let out a small giggle as he tried to search for her, reaching out at nothing.

"Why aren't you here?" Ezra muttered lazily, continuing to reach out, to find something that he could hold in his arms.

"It's half twelve, I couldn't lay there all day and wait for you to wake up, could I?" Ezra opened his eyes then, emitting a groan as he turned to lay on his back.

"Come here.." He whined, stretching his arms out in her direction. Aria slipped from the counter, quickly making her way towards the couch to take a seat beside him.

"Good morning, or should I say afternoon-Lazy butt." She joked, brushing his hair in different directions.

"Shush, I haven't been sleeping much over these past few days."

"I know, I'm kidding."

"Now give me a kiss, a good one." Aria leant down to meet Ezra's lips, pressing a sweet and lingering kiss to it. She tried to pull back, but Ezra but down on her bottom lip, muttering against them. "Your lips taste like peanut butter..." Ezra began, running his tongue along his bottom lip.

"That may be because I had a peanut butter sandwich. I didn't think you liked it." He shook his head, raising a finger to run it along her lips, before placing his finger in his mouth.

"Kiss me again" Ezra demanded, in which Aria kissed him without hesitation. "Okay, I think the peanut butters all gone." She shook her head in amusement, pulling away so that she could look at him better. "What're we doing today?"

"I was thinking about that a minute ago, I want to do something coupley today." Aria said, nodding with her words.

"Like what exactly? Watch old movies?"

"No. I mean like go out, so something coupley. Stuff that normal couples do." She searched for his hands, intertwining his with her own before continuing to speak. "I didn't mean it like that. We're normal, I just.-" Ezra cut Aria off by squeezing her hand, shaking his head.

"I'll think of something, leave it with me." He sat up, scooting closer to her so he could rest his head on her shoulder with a light groan. He was still tired, for some reason and felt like he was still asleep.

"You need to wake up first though, if we want to do anything." Aria joked, her tone laced with sarcasm. He made no attempt to move, instead just wrapped an arm around her waist, whilst his other hand traced patterns along her shoulder.

She allowed him stay like that for a few moments, before her shoulder began to feel numb. "I need to shower, you need to budge." Ezra reluctantly moved from his position, dropping back down on to the couch. It was only after a minute that he shot back up again, glancing around.

"Wait, you're showering? I'm coming."

"No... Just stay there and wait."

Of course, Ezra didn't just stay there and wait. He waited for a moment, until she was almost out of sight before jumping up, and running towards the bathroom door. It was slammed shut in his face.

"Aria, come on..." He pleaded, knocking on the door. It took less than a minute for the door to open again, and she grasped him by the shirt, dragging him inside.

Ezra didn't tell Aria what he had planned, it was some sort of surprise.

"You know I hate surprises... They suck. Just tell me where we're going." It was almost 11, and Aria was getting slightly aggravated as to why it was so late.

"We're going out, stop moaning. You'll get to know in a minute." Ezra rolled his eyes, slipping his phone into his back pocket before stretching out a hand. "So are you coming?" With a groan, she nodded, taking his hand in her own.

Ezra led his girlfriend along the sidewalk, until they reached the park. It was late, so it was empty apart from the few odd people dotted about here and there.

"We come to the park all the time, what's this?" Aria questioned impatiently, folding her arms tightly over her chest. "It's cold, and I'm tired."

"Shush. Just. Shush." Ezra cut in, pulling his phone from his back pocket to put it on shuffle. He then placed it down on the floor, turning it up to full volume. "Now, come here."

Aria was beyond confused. She had no idea what he was going on about, this was crazy.

"What?"

"This is me being romantic, so just come here." Aria sludged towards Ezra, and he pulled her against him, placing his hands on her waist. She just stood still. "You know, usually when the music plays you're supposed to dance, not stand there."

"Dancing?" Aria questioned with a small smirk, slipping her arms up and around his neck. She automatically began swaying from side to side with the music, following Ezra's lead. She had to admit, he was a good dancer himself.

"I told you; Hopeless romantic."

"Thank you, for tonight." Aria said with a wide grin, swinging both of their hands back and forth as they walked. It must have been at least 2am, and neither wanted to ruin the moment but eventually Ezra's phone died, and they realised it wasn't best to stay out all night.

"It wasn't a problem, I really enjoyed being able to go out with you like that." Ezra replied, pulling her towards him as they reached the top of the stairs. He went to pull out his key, but the door was open already.

"You did lock the door, didn't you?" She questioned, pushing the door open a fraction. Ezra pulled at her arm, tugging her backwards, before walking ahead of her.

The apartment was untouched, except the TV was playing loudly, volume turned to full. "What is it? The black and white movie?"

Ezra didn't say a word as he caught sight of what was on the screen.

"No, don't. Just stay there, Aria." The slight break in his voice panicked Aria, and only made her step forward to see what was on the screen.

"I-Is that...?" She whispered, bringing her hands to cover her mouth as she let out a small sob. Ezra only nodded, searching for the remote to turn off what was on the screen. "It's me and Wes... That's me and Wesley.."


	14. Chapter 14

This was their worst nightmare. The one thing that Aria and Ezra wanted to get over and done with. All they both wanted to do was move on, and get back to being their usual happy self.

And then this comes along, and the past few days spent trying to fix everything comes crashing down around them.

Both of them were currently stood in silence, eyes glued to the horrendous images on the screen.

Ezra was more shocked than anything, mortified that someone had dared to show him this. He didn't need it, not now. The same anger was building up inside of him, travelling through his veins. He was so caught up in staring at the screen that he didn't even realise the bathroom door slam shut and lock.

Just like that night, Aria felt weak and helpless, like she was trapped. She slid down the door, curling her knees up to her chest.

This was exactly how Aria had reacted during that night. Ran straight to the bathroom and locked herself in, bashing her head backwards against the glass door in an attempt to wipe it from her memory. Obviously it only caused a rather annoying headache and a bruise on the back of the girls head.

It was different, seeing it from that point of view. Watching her struggle and squirm, it looked different. Even more painful.

Because Aria knew what it felt like, it was like it was happening all over again, strange shudders rushing through her body everytime her mind would drift back to the video. She hadn't been able to watch much, but what she had seen was enough to scar her for the rest of her life.

It was at first, when he was in between pulling off her dress and holding down Aria's wrists.

Aria was slightly worried about how Ezra was reacting to all of this. She hadn't heard a single noise from the living room yet. No smashes, no slams. Nothing. Complete silence.

This may have been because Ezra, was actually sat down on the couch, watching the screen intently as if it was a normal show. The only difference was that Ezra wanted to move. He wanted to run as fast as he could, but he was just... Frozen. Completely frozen, he couldn't move a muscle.

His eyes were glued to the screen, as if they were being held there forcefully. Watching... Every... Single... Moment.

And then the screen went blank, and Ezra was back in focus again, glancing around the room in search of his girlfriend. Where the hell was she? The door wasn't wide open, so she must've been somewhere. He jumped up from the couch, glancing down at his hands. They had gone numb, thanks to him gripping them in tight fists.

"Aria?" Ezra called out, spotting a small shadow behind the door. He tried to push at the door, but the lock was holding it shut. "Come on, Aria." He knocked on the door, but she remained still, chewing at her fingernails in frustration. It was something that they both had in common. Whenever either was upset the other could tell, just by the length of their fingernails. If they were, the nails would be bitten right down. If not, normal length. "You can't stay locked in their all night. Sooner or later you'll have to come out."

"I'm alright, Ezra. I'm showering." Aria lied, not realising that Ezra could see her perfectly through the door.

"I can't hear the shower running." She silently cursed at herself, raising to her feet. "Please... You can't be like this with me. Don't shut me out. I love you, and I don't know who put that there but we will find out."

The door was pulled open then. Just a little bit, but it was enough. Ezra twisted a small smile onto his face, reaching his hand through the small gap. It took a minute, but Aria took it, and allowed Ezra to pull her out of the bathroom slowly.

"I don't want to go back, Ezra." Aria whimpered under her breath, her bottom lip beginning to tremble. "I can't go back there, not again." And then that was it, she collapsed into her boyfriends arms.

Ezra didn't know what to say to her. He didn't know what to promise. Pod course, he couldn't promise to make it all go away. This was just a huge slap in the face for them both. A reminder that no matter what they were to do, or no matter how hard they tried to forget...

This wasn't going away at all. They were stuck with the horrible truth, and couldn't do anything about it.

"I think... I think what we need... is to get away for a while. Just leave all of this, all of it behind. For the weekend at least. Maybe longer." Ezra suggested in a low murmur, the thought sounding better and better by the second. In order to forget, they had do put the past behind them.

"What're you talking about? We can't just leave, Ezra. You have a job, remember?"

"It's not like it'd be permanent or anything. Just something to get your mind off of everything."

Aria took a deep breath, shaking her head as she looked up at Ezra.

"No, I think the best thing for me right now... Is time. I think I'm going to go home tonight, Ezra. Just let me sleep on it, and sort out my head." Ezra raised an eyebrow at her, wanting to add a comment on how she had promised not to leave him just the day before, but arguing with her wouldn't help. She seemed determined to go home, and Ezra wasn't going to stop her. She raised her hand up to his cheek, offering him up a warm smile. "We both need this. It'll be twenty four hours of no contact, just us. Then I'll be back, okay?" He only nodded, wrapping his arms around her body and pressing a kiss to her forehead.


	15. Chapter 15

Three days, fourteen hours and nine minutes.  
That's how long Aria and Ezra had been apart from each other. It didn't seem that long to normal people, but both of them were dying inside. It killed them both. Obviously, there was a time when they had seen each other only once a week, but they hadn't made contact. At all. No secret midnight phone calls, or texts signed by the first letter of their name.  
What Aria had promised would only be twenty four hours had turned into three days of torture.  
Sure, Ezra had a feeling she would wait another day, but three? It scared Ezra, to think that maybe she wouldn't ever come back to him. Maybe this was her way of breaking up with him, letting him down gently.  
He had barely eaten, or done anything in that time. He had just sat, watching random cartoons from DVD's that Malcolm had left over a few months back. He had no idea what any were called, or even what they were about. It was just something to stare at.  
The tape, the one that'd caused all of this to come crashing back down again was sat on the coffee table in front of him, practically staring right at him.  
Ezra didn't know what to do with it; to destroy it, or maybe watch it again. It was so confusing, having all of these different thoughts running through his head.  
Maybe watching it again would help get out his anger and frustration. It may help him understand, and then they could fix this.  
That's all Ezra wanted.  
He grasped up his phone, scrolling through his contacts until he found Aria's name, and pressed call.  
It rang only once, and then went straight to answer phone. Leaving a message definitely wasn't the way to speak to Aria. It would sound desperate. He brought up a blank message, contemplating what to say. Maybe he should explain... Maybe he should ask to see her. Or maybe he should ask how she was. He typed out different messages, trying to get them right before something hit him. It was perfect. Three words, eight letters.  
I love you-E.  
Ezra seemed happy with it, that it would be the perfect way to get his point across. All he had to do was wait a few minutes for the reply. Of course she'd reply. Aria had to.

Five minutes turned into five hours, and then longer. Nothing. Not even an "Okay", or "Thanks, Ezra." That's all he could've asked for. But no, Aria hadn't even bothered to reply to that.  
Now Ezra was angry. He just wanted his girlfriend back, to understand. The tape came into sight again, and all Ezra saw was red as he snapped it in two pieces, and through it against the wall.

This was the end for them, and Ezra knew it.

The phone ringing dragged Ezra from his thoughts in the shower, and he immediately jumped out, almost skidding over on the laminate flooring as he dived for the phone.  
"Hello? Aria?" Ezra said frantically, searching the room for some jeans and a shirt.  
"No, actually this is Byron." The voice down the phone said, he didn't sound the least bit amused.  
"Byron? What can I do for you? I'd Aria okay?" There was a long pause on the other end of the line.  
"Actually, I don't know. She won't leave her bedroom, she won't eat anything, and she won't drink anything. And now she's locked the door and won't let any of us inside." Yet another pause. "I'm really worried about her, Ezra." Ezra searched the room for his keys, grasping them up before darting from his apartment and straight out to the car.  
"I'm on my way, I'll be there in five minutes." And with that he was speeding down the road, his mind rolling with thoughts.  
She wasn't eating, or drinking anything. He hadn't known Aria to shut down like this, to push everyone away.

"Thank you, for coming. I know we're not exactly friends but I didn't know who else to call." Byron said, pulling the door back to allow Ezra to step through the door.  
Truth be told, Byron hadn't even thought to call Emily, Spencer or Hanna. Ezra was the first person to come to mine, and he was there in a heartbeat. It was then that Byron knew how much Ezra loved his daughter.  
He didn't even have time to finish his sentence before Ezra was sprinting up the stairs, knocking on Aria's door.  
"Aria?" Ezra whispered, continuously pressing his knuckles lightly to the door. All he got was complete silence. "Aria, come on. You haven't eaten anything." Her silence was slightly worrying. He pulled his phone out, dialling Aria's number. The phone rung from inside the room, right until the final ring when it went to answer phone. "No, I'm serious now Aria. People are really worried about you, you need to let me in." With a sigh, Ezra leant his head on the door, becoming frustrated with the silence. "Aria! Let. Me. In. Do not make me kick this door down."  
It wasn't the silence that panicked him this time, it was the glass smashing inside. Ezra's knocking increased, becoming louder and more frequent as he hammered at the door.  
It was scary, and his breathing was increasing. As if he was having a panic attack. "Right, that's it, in coming in." With that, Ezra took a step back, kicking the door open. It must've been a weak lock, because it practically flew open, hitting the wall with a loud slam.  
And then he saw her.  
Just... Laying there on the floor near her dressing table. The glass was shattered beside her.  
See, that wasn't what terrified Ezra. That wasn't what scared Ezra so much that he could've just broken down there and then. It would scar him.  
There was a wide gash along Aria's wrists, and the floor was covered in a crimson colour.  
... Blood.  
Ezra dived down onto the floor, furiously shaking at Aria's body. She was pale, and lifeless.  
"Byron? Call an ambulance. Now!" Ezra yelled down the stairs, trying to remember what he had been taught at Hollis about first aid. He could remember nothing, completely blank.

He was helpless.


	16. Chapter 16

Now I promised her I'd do this, and I am because I loves her so very much. This story is dedicated to my wonderful Cuppy, who's truly one of my favourite people in the world and I love her to pieces. I also love her accent and oh my gosh. Okay, well without her this story wouldn't of been written, so thank that wonderful woman for forcing me to write every night because she can't sleep without a chapter... And I love her most.

Seeing Aria wired up to all of these different tubes and wires killed Ezra. At first, he could barely look at his girlfriend. He would have to stare at the wall behind her bed. Now, he couldn't take his eyes off of her.

She looked so delicate, so helpless in the large bed, the bandage wrapped securely around her wrist.

It was blood loss, that'd made Aria pass out. That's what all these wires were for. Hooked up to her arms to transfer blood into her system and make sure it got around her body. She had lost so much blood, it could've killed her if Ezra had found his girlfriend ten minutes later.

Now Ezra hadn't left Aria's bed in the four days she had been in here. Not once had she opened her eyes or moved. To say Ezra was terrified was an understatement.

He couldn't find the words to describe what he was feeling.

His girlfriend, had purposely slit her wrist and let herself bleed until she passed out. How had it come to this? How were they in this situation?

Of course, after Byron saw his daughter lying on the floor he made Ezra spill all, and was just about as angry as Ezra had been. Ella took it badly, Mike was upset by the news, but said he'd like to focus on Aria now.

Neither Ella, Byron, or Mike had been to the hospital to see her properly. Yes, they came on a regular basis to stop by for five seconds before waving and walking out again, but they were all mortified by what they had found out.

And so Aria was left with Ezra, who constantly hummed to B-26 and read out chapters of their favourite books to try and get Aria to wake up.

It was the first time Ezra had slept in days, he was sat in the chair that was dragged right up against the bed, snoring almost inaudibly as he slept. It was the rustling about that woke him up, and the tightening grip on his hand. His eyes stayed closed, as Aria began to play with her boyfriends fingers, wrestling with them. It took him a moment, but a second later Ezra realised that Aria was awake.

"Are you mad at me?" Aria whispered weakly, her eyes glancing in any direction but his. She felt terrible, guilty about everything. How could Aria have put Ezra through this? He hadn't done a single thing wrong. The last thing Aria remembered was the glass hitting the floor.

Ezra sighed, closing his eyes briefly whilst he collected his bearings, before leaning forward to get as close as humanly possible.

"Were you trying to kill yourself, Aria?" Ezra pushed, in which Aria closed her eyes. "Why would you do something like that? How could you be so careless and immature? Do something so... Stupid. What, are you 5 years old? Aria you can't try and kill yourself like that! We were all so worried about you! I haven't-" Ezra stopped then, watching as the tears formed in her eyes. It wasn't right for Ezra to be horrible and mean to Aria about it, not now it was done.

"I just... I wanted to make it all go away." Aria let out a weak sob, causing Ezra to feel worse. "I thought that if I did.. Then everyone would be happier without me in the picture. You'd still have loved Wes like you used to." With a loud sigh, Ezra shook his head, dragging his free hand along his face. Of course this is what all of it was about. This was Ezra's fault. "I also wanted it to take the pain away."

Being angry wasn't the best way to get his point across. "It's okay, you don't have to explain yourself to me.." Ezra cooed, pushing the unbrushed hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry I didn't call you sooner, I thought that maybe you didn't want me there." His voice was at a soft whisper, tears still rolling down her face. It was then that Ezra's eyes began to water, as he pressed a kiss to their conjoined hand.

"You can't leave me again like that Aria, I was terrified. I never felt so helpless in my life. I thought,.. I thought that you were dead; That I had gotten to you too late. That I had lost you forever." He paused, brushing away the few tears that dropped along his cheeks onto the bed sheets. "I can't live without you, I won't live without you."

The last few words made Aria melt inside, crumble into tiny little pieces that couldn't be mended. She weakly shuffled sidewards, motioning for him to get in beside her. He did so, kicking off his shoes and slipping beside his petite girlfriend in the bed. She immediately curled up against his chest, as he rocked her back and forward. "Promise me that you won't ever leave me again."

"I promise." She whispered, emitting a wince as the pain began to kick in. Her wrist was throbbing. "Did you tell them? What happened with Wesley?"

"Yeah, I told them." To Ezra's surprise, Aria didn't start losing it with him, or shouting and screaming. She just laid still, nodding her head as she muttered out her words.

"Thank you. Do they hate me too?"

"No one hates you. We're all just upset about what happened. You cut yourself purposely, that's not something that you'd do."

"I was sat in my room, looking through all of our pictures..." Aria stopped, clearing her dry throat to continue. "I found the tape again, and then the next thing I know I was sat on the floor with the blade in my hand. I didn't mean it. I sat by the phone day in, day out. Waiting for you to call me but you didn't." Aria's voice cracked near the end of her sentence, the words becoming too hard to talk about. It made her feel like bursting into tears, or doing it all over again.

Then Ezra was confused. Aria had been thinking the exact same thing that he had. "I haven't slept in a week. Aria, I waited three days for you to call and then I couldn't take it anymore. I thought this was your way of saying that maybe you were done." Aria glanced up at him, searching his expression before shaking her head quickly, and moving her eyes down to his shirt once more. She twisted her fingers in his shirt, playing around with the fabric to distract herself.

"You're such an idiot."

"How am I the idiot?" Ezra scoffed, shaking his head as he continued to speak. "What was I supposed to think?"

"That I love you." She said in a stern tone, trailing a hand along his chest. "And that after all that we've been through together, I wouldn't give up on us so easily."

"I'm sorry I didn't call you sooner, you said no contact for only twenty four hours. You promised that you'd come back."

Aria couldn't explain why she hadn't gone back after the promised time. She did try, had her bags packed and in the car again. But then, she couldn't drive. She couldn't go back. Aria sat in her car for most of the day, contemplating whether or not it would've been a good idea. So many negative thoughts were in her head. One of them asking her why she left in the first place. There must've been a reason why she walked out, and that reason must still be there.

And then it was dark, and Aria trailed back inside.

"I don't want to talk about it, not now."

Even though Ezra had so much to ask her about what had happened, he instead just nodded his head, shuffling further down on the bed to look at her properly, and took Aria's face in his hands.

"If you ever leave me again, I swear-"

Aria cut his sentence short, placed her hands on top of his own.

"I won't. I promise."

"Swear to me, Aria. You need to swear." Ezra urged, his expression filled with desperation. She couldn't do this again. Ezra couldn't go through it again.

"I promise you, I promise." With a nod, Ezra pressed a kiss to her forehead, the door opening a moment after.

"Can I have a word with Aria?"


	17. Chapter 17

Both Aria and Ezra's eyes shot up to meet Mike's, their faces masked with confusion. His voice wasn't gentle, it was stern. Mike wasn't asking, he was telling.

"I'll go get some coffee..." Ezra trailed off, quickly leaning down to press a kiss to his girlfriends lip before slipping from the bed. "I'll inform the nurses that you're awake too." A reluctant Aria tried to keep a hold on his hand, but he gave her a reassuring nod, and she reluctantly let go, and Ezra disappeared out of the door and down the hall in a hunt for some coffee.

"Hey, Mike." Aria said with a weak smile, raising a hand into the air to wave at him. Mike, who seemed less than amused; Just bobbed his head in a nod. "Have I done something wrong?"

"What the hell were you thinking?"

"I'm really not in the mood for this..."

"Mom and Dad haven't been here to see you properly yet. They can't even look at you right now." His words struck Aria like a ton of bricks, making her feel the exact same as she did four days ago when all of this happened.

Aria did feel terrible about it. She hated what she had done, and if she could go back and change it all, she'd do it all in a heartbeat. She'd of never left Ezra's. In fact, she wouldn't of let Wesley through the front door in the first place. Slammed it straight in his face and gone back to doing her business.

"If you've come here to try and make me feel horrible and guilty, congratulations, your plan worked." Aria turned on her side, purposely trying to get her point across that it was Mike's cue to leave. He didn't take it though, instead he took a seat in the chair Ezra had sat in for four days straight.

"That's not why I'm here, Aria. I actually came to see if you were okay." He took a deep breath, fumbling around with his fingers as he continued to speak. Mike had waited weeks to tell Aria this, it was now or never. "I have to tell you something."

The slight edge to his tone scared Aria to a great extent. Mike was usually a confident guy, and wouldn't hesitate.

She turned around in the bed, arching a slight brow as she watched her brother intently.

"What's going on?" She was answered with moments of silence, and then a shake of his head. "Mike?"

"I missed you, a lot." Mike said without thinking, backing out of what he was going to say. It wasn't like he was lying though, of course. He had missed his older sister, they were close and barely fought like usual brothers and sisters would. They were like best friends.

"I'm right here, I haven't been anywhere." Aria said in a soft whisper, smiling as widely as she could, trying her absolute hardest not to make it look as fake as it felt.

"No, I don't mean that. You're barely at home anymore, or school. It's like you've disappeared off the face of the earth and then when I arrive home after staying over at Connor's, Dad has to tell me that you came home and tried to kill yourself, what am I supposed to think about that?"

"I didn't purposely try to kill myself. I mean, yes. It did pass through my mind but I wanted to take away the pain, if only for a few hours." Once again the emotions rushed back to Aria once again, wound on her wrist beginning to sting.

"You should've said something, Aria. I've always come to you, when I needed something. You could've told me about Ezra's brother. I could've helped you through it."

"You know too then?"

"Ezra told us all. Don't blame him though, Dad practically put a knife to his throat and threatened to kill him." Mike joked, letting out a weak laugh. "I think... I think that Mom and Dad won't visit you here is because you kept sure a big secret from them...-"

"I kept it a secret from everyone until recently, Mike. It's not like I didn't want to tell them, I couldn't. It was to hard. I only told Ezra because he found out. Even Spence, Hanna and Emily don't know. Well, they didn't."

"We'll it's hard on them too, to cope with all of this." They stayed silent for a few minutes, letting Mike's words set in. "I did bring you this, though." Mike reached into his cost pocket, pulling out a small and tatty teddy bear, setting it down on the bed beside Aria.

For the first time in weeks, Aria genuinely smiled, reaching over to play with the small Teddy bear, whom she had named Alfie when she was younger's ears.

"I love you, you Muppet." Aria said with a light laugh, in which Mike returned. He grasped her hand in his own, giving it a light squeeze.

"I should go, I didn't tell Dad I was coming here. I'll be back tomorrow, okay?"

"Promise?"

He locked his pinky finger with hers.

"Pinky promise."

Aria couldn't help but smile at their childish actions, waving at Mike as he made his way towards the door.

"I bought coffee!" Ezra announced, holding out his coffee proudly, only for it to be snatched from his hands a second later by Mike as he walked out the room. "He stole my coffee..." Ezra faked a sniffle, glancing down at the floor to act upset. "Your brother stole my coffee, that is not okay." He paused, raising an eyebrow as he glanced back up at his girlfriend. "... And I'm wearing no shoes."

Aria pushed her lips out in a playful pout, stretching out her arms towards him. "You didn't buy me coffee, I deserve cuddles"

"You're not allowed coffee."

"But..." She wobbled her bottom lip, her craving for coffee becoming stronger by the minute. It'd been a week since Aria had drank a cup of coffee, it was her fuel. "I'm craving."

As much as Ezra felt bad for denying Aria of her daily coffee intake, he knew the doctors wouldn't be pleased if they found out Ezra had snuck her some coffee in. "I'll sneak you some in later, if I can."

He gave into her way too easily.

"I still expect cuddles." Aria said seriously. Ezra's reply was cut short by the ringing on Ezra's phone. He pulled it from his back pocket as he climbed back onto the bed, an arm wrapping around Aria's frame, playing with the ends of her hair whilst the other as the other held the phone to his ear.

There was something about the change in Ezra's expression that worried Aria. He stayed quiet, listening intently to whoever was on the other end of the line, not glancing at her for a second as Aria took ahold of his chin, guiding his eyes back to meet hers.

The phone line went dead, and Ezra placed the phone on the table beside the bed, turning to face Aria.

"What's wrong?" She whispered, leaning up to press a long lingering kiss to his lips.

"That was your Dad.." Ezra began, letting out a small sigh as he continued. "He thinks that it'd be best if you stayed away for a little while, stayed with me. He thinks it's best for you."

"Dad doesn't want me to go home?" She asked him, closing her eyes as she sighed, laying her head on his chest.

There wasn't a point lying. "No, no he doesn't." Ezra shook his head as he spoke, the next few words coming from Aria's lips making Ezra want to travel back in time and undo it all.

"I've messed up again, haven't I?"

He stayed completely silent, pressing a kiss to her forehead before wrapping both of his arms around her body.


	18. Chapter 18

After an antagonising week locked away in the four walls of her hospital room, Aria was finally allowed to go home.  
It was okay, she supposed. She had Ezra there all the time, keeping her occupied whilst she was there. But Aria hadn't slept since she had woken up three days ago, not properly anyway. Of course, Ezra was aware of his girlfriends lack of sleep and demanded that she slept the moment they arrived back at the apartment.  
Neither had mentioned Aria's dad. Ezra left for an hour, whilst Aria was examined by the nurse to grab some clothes for her, Ella had already packed an entire case for her, and told Ezra to tell Aria that if she needed somewhere to stay, her place was always open. Obviously Byron wasn't in the room at the time. He refused to even say Aria's name. And to be honest, Ezra thought it was absurd. What man turns their back on his own daughter? But then, there was something that didn't add up. Ella had told Ezra that Byron was thinking of what was best for Aria, but what's worse than your family turning on you?  
Nothing. It's the way you kill someone even more.  
"Home, sweet home." Aria announced with a sigh of relief, dropping the single bag she was holding onto the floor and glancing around. "I've missed being here." Ezra placed all of the bags near the door, sneaking up behind his girlfriend to slip his arms around her waist from behind.  
"I've missed having you here." He agreed, pressing a kiss to her cheek before resting his head on her shoulder. "It was strange, not having to put up with your snoring."  
"I don't snore!" Aria retorted, leaning against his chest.  
He couldn't help but grin widely, her words trailing off into a sleepy mumble. "And you wreak. Go take a shower." She demanded, causing Ezra to emit a small laugh and nod, liking the idea.  
"I'll be back in a few, why don't you try and get some sleep?" Ezra asked quietly, brushing a kiss along her shoulder before unraveling his arms, and heading off into the bathroom.  
"I'm not tired, Ezra."  
"Sure, sure."

By the time Ezra had finished showering it must've been at least an hour. He'd managed to think everything through and decided on what was to happen. Ezra was tired of things being messed up for them, all of the stress needed to end. He finally stepped from the shower, and managed to slip out of the bathroom silently, a small smile spreading across his features at the sight in front of him.  
Aria was curled up on his side of the bed wearing his Hollis hoodie, only his Hollis hoodie. It mustn't have taken her long to fall asleep, she was out like a light, snoring softly.  
It was good, seeing her sleeping peacefully in their bed. It was like it was back to normal again.  
Aria would always manage to sneak Ezra's Hollis hoodie from his drawers, she said it was her favourite. It would always smell like him. He would always tell her to keep it, but she felt guilty every time and snook it back into his drawer after she was finished.  
After pulling on a loose pair of pyjama bottoms, Ezra made himself a cup of coffee, and slid up the bed to take a seat beside his sleeping girlfriend.

Aria stirred in her sleep, turning furiously from side to side as her breathing quickened, the nightmare becoming just too much.  
Ezra knew something was wrong when she went completely silent, freezing in her sleep.  
She shot up straight in the bed, running a hand along her sweaty forehead, trying to catch her breath as quickly as she could. She was panicking, her breathing only quickening.  
"Aria?" Ezra whispered, trying to reach out for Aria, but she flinched away, making him freeze in his place. "Hey..." This time he moved forward, so she could see him. She only stayed silent, gasping for breath as she held a hand to her chest. It terrified Ezra, but he kept himself calm, moving closer to his girlfriend. It didn't phase her the slightest, her lungs feeling useless, they wouldn't work. She couldn't breathe. "Aria, come on." Ezra shuffled in front of Aria, taking her face in his hands to force her to lock eyes with his own. "Aria!"  
This time Aria glanced up, finding her breath once again. She began to calm down now, taking deep breaths in and out until her breathing returned to normal. "What the hell was that?"  
"I don't... I don't know." Aria muttered, tears welling in her eyes. "That was a nightmare right? Please, tell me it was."  
Ezra could see the worry in her voice, the panic as she searched his eyes hopefully.  
"What happened? Tell me, please." She shook her head, raising her hands to place over his.  
"No, no I'm fine. Just... Sleep with me?" With a nod of his head, Ezra allowed Aria to drag him up the bed, and climb into his lap, dragging the blanket over her body. "I'll tell you, later."  
-

This time Aria woke up to the sound of Ezra humming quietly to himself, the past few hours passing in a blur. The nightmare was still fresh in her mind, but she didn't let it get to her, it was just a silly dream.  
She began to play with the small hairs on his chest.  
"I know you're awake." Ezra murmured lowly, pausing his humming. It was times like this that Ezra would do the randomist things, singing being one of them.  
"What time is it?"  
"Just past seven, you slept about ten hours I should say." Those ten hours sure did make a difference. She felt better, like it was a new day. Her eyes glanced down at the bandage wrapped around her wrist tightly, and it all came rushing back. "The doctors said it should heal over time." He brought her wrist to his lips, pressing a kiss to the bandage. Ezra wasn't particularly happy with what Aria had done, but he wasn't disappointed in her either.  
They had talked about this, after Mike had left the day she had woken up.  
"I love you."  
He smiled at her words, leaning in to whisper into her ear. "I love you more."  
"I love you /most/."  
"No way, you're hallucinating again I think." Aria shook her head, slapping his chest lightly. "Am I really going to have to torture you into saying I'm right?" Her eyes widened then, knowing exactly what he was talking about.  
"Ezra, no." She warned, trying to push at his chest. But it was too late, he was tickling Aria's sides recklessly, laughing at the squeals that emitting from her lips. "Stop it!"  
"Admit I'm right!" Ezra chimed, grasping at her hips as she pulled away and tried to crawl off the bed, only to be dragged back up it and pulled underneath her boyfriends muscular frame.  
"Stop it, Ezra! Stop!" She was now bursting into fits of giggles, shoving at his chest, punching him playfully in the arm.  
"Do I win?"  
"Yes, yes okay you win!" Ezra smiled smugly, a proud expression on his features. When his eyes locked with Aria's, he was locked for a moment, a sudden rush of realisation kicking in.  
"I'm so lucky to have you. You're amazing, and smart, beautiful." Ezra ran a hand along her cheek, watching the familiar crimson colour overtake her usually pale skin. But then Instead of Aria shooting him back with some kind of disagreement, she pulled his face down to hers, and crashed her lips furiously against his.  
Ezra pulled away a fraction, whispering against her lips. "Are you sure about this?"  
"I'm deprived, now shut up and kiss me." Aria growled out, lacing her fingers in his hair to tug at it, and drag his lips back to hers. Of course, Ezra didn't argue and was soon pulling the Hollis hoodie over Aria's head, and throwing it in any direction he could before trailing a hand along her sides. She shuddered under his fingertips, the feeling sending electrical currents all through her body. His lips dragged away from hers, making their way towards her neck to bite down on the skin.  
It was then that they knew neither of them would be getting any sleep that night.


	19. Chapter 19

"Ezra?" Aria said quietly, not bothering to glance over her shoulder at him. She was far too comfortable in his arms, body's stuck together, their legs tangled together. He ran his fingertips up and down her arm as she laid on her side, leaning against his chest. It was soothing, a peaceful way to end their passionate night of love making.  
Ezra was half asleep, but he managed to mumble out a quick "Hmm?"  
"You have to promise me too..."  
"Promise you what?" He raised a curious brow, leaning down to press kisses along her neck and shoulder, sending shivers all through Aria's body.  
"Promise that you'll never leave me either."  
With a nod of his head, Ezra pulled back a fraction, brushing her hair away from her face. "I'm not going anywhere, Aria. I promise you."  
"When we start a family, I think that we should buy a bigger home." Her tone was teasingly but both of them knew it was a necessity. The apartment only just fitted two of them, it wouldn't fit any more people inside of it. "With a big garden."  
"We should. We can have a huge back yard for all of them to run around in."  
"All of them?"  
"What? We're just having the one?" Ezra acted offended, settling back down in his previous position.  
"Two, at least two."  
"A boy, and a girl."  
"I think that sounds fair. Oh, and we have to have a dog too."  
And even though they both wanted to sleep, they spent the next two and a half hours of the night talking about their future, together.

The knocking of the door awoke Aria, the furious banging causing her to make the decision to untangle herself from Ezra's sleeping limbs, and pull on one of Ezra's long shirts, glad that they hadn't removed her bra the previous night.  
That's when Aria stopped, and realised that she couldn't answer the door. If it was someone that only Ezra knew, then they were at a great risk of being caught. But, Ezra looked so peaceful sleeping. Aria really didn't want to wake up him.  
"Ezra?" She whispered, crawling back onto the bed to try and wake him up. He just let out a groan, trying to turn away from wherever the noise was coming from. "Ezra, someone's at the door." He came to his senses then, rubbing his eyes for a minute before sitting up, the constant knocking on the door beginning giving him a headache.  
"Just give me a minute!" Ezra yelled, dragging Aria onto his lap. "Good morning, beautiful."  
She let out a giggle, pressing continuous lazy kisses to his lips between her words.  
"You should get that, it's annoying." He groaned loudly, crashing his lips forcefully to hers. Aria allowed herself to get carried away, dragging Ezra down on top of her, before the knocking began again. "Oh for fucks sake."  
Ezra speedily pulled on his pyjama bottoms, and jogged towards the door whilst Aria grabbed her phone and locked herself in the bathroom.  
He pulled open the door, his brows furrowing as he saw no one stood there, only a crisp white envelope laid on the floor. After glancing down the hallway to see no one, Ezra picked up the letter, and quickly moved back into the apartment.  
"False alarm, Aria." Ezra called out, pulling off the seal of the envelope to pull it out. He paused as Aria walked slowly out the bathroom, her face pale. "Is everything okay?" Ezra set down the envelope, holding his hands out to Aria.  
"I've just gotten a text, from Wesley." Aria rushed out her words, holding out her phone for Ezra to take. "Why is Wesley texting me?"  
"Wesley's dead."  
"Wow, why didn't I think of that?" Aria said sarcastically, reading the text aloud. "Need to see you, Rosewood Cemetery, 11pm." Aria took a deep breath, before continuing."Don't tell Ezra." He took the phone from Aria, the caller ID reading Wesley's name.  
"It's probably just a prank, someone has Wesley's phone." Aria let out a scoff at Ezra's words, catching a glimpse of the white envelope.  
"Who was at the door?"  
"No one, just a letter." She raised an eyebrow, walking straight past him to pick it up, her eyes scanning over the sheet of paper. "It's probably just a bill."  
"Dear Ezra.  
I know I'm probably the last person that you want to hear from right now, but I just thought you should know I'm perfectly okay.  
Wes." She let out a groan, handing Ezra the letter before heading towards the kitchen.  
"What're you doing?"  
"I need coffee, then we're calling 911."  
"And tell them what? My girlfriend, who by the way is my student, woke me up the morning after we had sex and there was a letter on the doorstep? I think I'll be arrested." Ezra rolled his eyes, both knowing that his words were true.  
"Then what're we supposed to do? Someone's messing around with us."  
"We act natural." He said, tearing up the letter and throwing it in the bin. "It's probably just one of Wesley's friends." As much as Aria wanted to argue, she just nodded. Aria's gut feeling was telling her that something wasn't right, but arguing with Ezra at seven AM wasn't the way to go about it. She instead abandoned the coffee, trudging up towards the bed. She pulled away the covers, sliding onto her side of the bed.  
"Hurry up then." Aria mumbled, looking over her shoulder at him.  
Ezra practically ran in the direction of the bed, stopping as Aria began to speak again. "And lose the bottoms, Mr Fitz."  
"You're so immature sometimes." Ezra shook his head in amusement, disposing the pyjama bottoms and climbing back into his bed, only for his phone to ring.  
"Leave it, sleep." With that Aria was out like a light, and Ezra slipped his arms around her waist, glancing over his shoulder at the ringing phone on the side. The caller ID was clearly written in big letters on the screen of his IPhone.  
Wesley.  
But Ezra knew that answering the phone could ruin things again for them, he didn't want to believe what his head was telling him.  
Wesley was alive, he had to be. It all made sense now.  
No, Ezra wasn't going to think like that. Unravelled a hand to turn his phone onto silent, settling into the bed with his girlfriend.


	20. Chapter 20

When Ezra woke up, he tried to reach out for what was missing in his arms, but the wide gap in front of him caused him to grown. Aria wasn't there. The voices in the living room told him that someone was in the apartment, other than Aria. Ezra stayed still, Trying to listen in on what the conversation was. The past two weeks had been amazing. No arguments, or drama, nothing. As if they were finally on track now. Nobody had been to bother them at all, and they spent most of the day cuddled up doing stuff that didn't matter; They were together and that's all that mattered. Of course, here and there Aria was to get the occasional text from 'Wesley', and a letter here and then but nothing more. This was their chance to move on and forget about everyone else that'd ever tried to ruin them, for now at least.  
Aria had been more than happy when Spencer had turned up outside the apartment an hour earlier, but the moment she stepped through the door Aria knew that something was wrong.  
"Maybe you should come and stay with me, instead." Spencer asked, folding her arms tightly across her chest.  
"Thanks, but I think I'm fine here with Ezra."  
"No, really. It'll be better for school, and your studies. I've already organised it with my Mom."  
"Spencer." Aria said sternly, shaking her head. "I like it here."  
"But this is the one place you shouldn't be." Aria raised an eyebrow , gesturing for Spencer to continue. "Look where you're sat. Tell me that it doesn't make you feel uncomfortable to sit on." That shocked Aria. How had Spencer even found out about that? "Ella told me when I tried to visit you earlier."  
"I don't see what you're getting at?"  
"This place, this life, /him./" Spencer nodded her head in the direction of the bed, and both Ezra and Aria automatically caught on. "He's not good for you, Aria."  
"Don't start Spencer..."  
"I'm being serious. You need to get over what Wesley did, and being here won't help that. It's just a constant reminder."  
Spencer's words were strangely true, but Aria wasn't going to admit that. She was far too stubborn to do that. One part of Aria wanted to tell Spencer that she was right, but she still wouldn't leave with Spencer. How dare she storm in here and practically force Aria to leave? It was absurd. She was here with her boyfriend, and wouldn't want to leave him for the world. This was where she /wanted/ to be.  
"I think you better leave, Spencer."  
"Aria..."  
"No, don't. I'm fine here with Ezra, thanks for the offer."  
"Okay, let's take a different approach. Aria, pack up your stuff and let's move." Spencer demanded, becoming agitated with Aria's stubbornness. All she wanted was for Aria to be safe, and happy. Being with Ezra was just a terrible reminder. Aria shot to her feet, pulling the door open.  
"Bye, Spencer."  
"Aria, come on..."  
"I'll call you later, when you're thinking straight." Spencer was hurried out the door, and her and Aria stared at each other for a few moments, showing each other that none were giving up anytime soon. Then Aria gave up, and slammed the door shut in Spencer's face, sighing heavily as she leant against it.  
"What the hell was that about?" Ezra muttered, sitting up in the bed to glance at his girlfriend.  
"I guess our fortnight of no drama is up." She sighed, pulling her hair up into a messy bun. "Time to return back to our usual selves again." With a roll of her eyes, Aria poured herself another cup of coffee, pausing as a sudden rush of nausea rushed over her. Ezra slipped from the bed, just as Aria spilled out her stomach into the kitchen sink.  
"You alright?" He said, quickly rushing over to check on her. Aria held her hand out, trying to stop Ezra from stepping any closer, but he did anyway, and began rubbing his hand soothingly along her back.  
"I'm fine.." Aria muttered lowly, picking up her coffee cup, only for it to be taken from her grasp by Ezra, and set on the counter again.  
"No more coffee." Ezra opened the cupboards to grab a glass, instead offering Aria a glass of water. "Go lie down for a little bit, I'll give my Mother a call, cancel tonight." Aria and Ezra had agreed to go to some huge event that she had organised that night. It was sure to be jam packed with all of his mothers friends, but they wanted to get out the house and do something. Both of them already had their outfits sorted out, but Ezra wouldn't allow Aria out of the house in this state.  
The dress that she had picked out was truly the best thing that she had ever seen. It was amazing. It was just a dinner apparently, but Diane was sure to make a big deal out of it.  
"I'm fine, Ezra. It's probably that Vegan take out we had last night." She shrugged, taking a seat on the sofa, resting her head in her hands. "Just give me an hour to get over it." Ezra rolled his eyes, the noise from his phone cutting him off. She managed to swoop it up first, throwing the phone on the sofa as she read the message.  
"See, 'Wes' is gonna' be there, we have to go." Her tone was laced with sarcasm, a clear indication that she wasn't buying this for a second.  
"Aria, come on... It could be food poisoning."  
"We're going Ezra, and that's final."  
He let out a loud groan, nodding in defeat.  
"At least lie down, compromise with me here." Aria glanced over her shoulder at Ezra, shrugging before dropping down to lie on the couch.

-  
As predicted, the house was full of men in dark suits, and women in long dresses, a wide table in the middle of the room.  
"Ready to get this over with?" Ezra whispered to Aria, one hand sitting on her waist, it was his was of claiming her. She glanced down at the short, dark purple dress that went out slightly at the waist, and then at the matching shoes. To say that Aria felt out of place was an understatement. Everyone looked so beautiful. "You look gorgeous, stop it." Aria glanced up at her boyfriend, brushing his hair in the correct direction.  
"There, good to go." She quickly pressed a delicate kiss to his lips before taking his hand in her own. "Lead the way, Fitzgerald."


	21. Chapter 21

So far things were going okay at the dinner. Aria and Ezra were sat a few seats down from his mother, Diane. It wasn't silent, the mutters of people chatting to the person next to them filled the room with noise and prevented any awkward silence.  
Whilst everyone was talking about politics and financial difficulties, Aria and Ezra were set in their own world, talking about everything and anything whilst Ezra's hand ran up and down her thigh.  
"Are you sure that you're feeling okay?" He whispered, making sure no one else could hear their hushed conversation. "I don't think that you should eat anything, just in case."  
"Ezra, stop fussing. I'm fine, I don't feel sick anymore." Aria lied smoothly, placing her hand atop of his before it could go any higher. "Behave yourself, Fitzgerald. We're at the dinner table." She shot him a stern look, watching out for Ezra's expression as she leant towards him and whispered in his ear. "Oh, and for the record; I'm not wearing underwear." Aria knew exactly how to get to her boyfriend, it was so easy if you knew how. He squeezed her thigh, letting out an almost inaudible groan at her words.  
"My, my, Miss Montgomery. That's a very inappropriate thing to say at the dinner table." His tone was polite, purposely mocking the rest of the people around him.  
Aria emitted a light giggle, shaking her head in amusement. It was quite ironic, how at one point Ezra was expected to be one of these people sat at the table, talking about politics.  
"Well, Mr Fitz I must say it's inappropriate to have sex with your student."  
"It's not my fault that you don't wear a long enough skirt during my class."  
"And it's not mine that you couldn't keep it in your pants."  
They both knew who had won that round.  
"Touché" Ezra said simply, pecking her lips quickly, whilst the other ran up and down her thigh once again. Aria watched him intently, making sure it didn't slip underneath her dress. The last thing either wanted to do was get caught doing anything, especially here.  
The nausea returned again after a while, but Aria managed to push the feeling away, focusing on Ezra's hand on her skin and taking deep breaths. Thankfully, her boyfriend beside her didn't pick up on anything, which she was thankful for, the last thing that Aria needed was Ezra making a scene and dragging her out.

After about four or five times of repeating this, Aria had had enough, and excused herself from the table to use the bathroom. Not that anyone but Ezra noticed, of course.  
She climbed up the stairs, searching for the bathroom. It didn't take her long to completely empty her system again, and clean out her mouth with some of the expensive looking mouthwash they had there.  
After quickly checking her phone, Aria began down the hallway again, lost in her own thoughts. They travelled back to the last time that they'd had sex, her insides tensing as she remembered the feeling of Ezra buried deep inside of her.  
It was strange, how not two months ago Aria and Ezra couldn't leave the apartment together, and now they were going out to dinners, parties. Aria was done with all of her school work, the exams were done. Now they could live their own lives, start a family.  
And then something, a hand to be exact- Reached out and wrapped itself around Aria's mouth to put an abrupt stop to any screams that were sure to fly out, and pulled her backwards. All Aria could do was panic, trying to rustle free from whoever was holding her hands behind her back at this point.  
It wasn't until Aria's head hit the wall that she tried to scream, but nothing came out.  
"Stop trying to scream, you won't get anywhere." The person said, raising a sharp brow. Aria had seen this man before, but couldn't quite put a finger on what his name was. She was to panicked to even think straight.  
It took Aria a few more tries before she gave up, and tears began rolling down her cheeks. All she wanted to do was scream, or screech. Anything that'd get someone's attention. "It seems that not many people like you, Aria Montgomery. Not like they say they do." She stared at the tall man for a while, absorbing his adolescent features. He had to be in his twenties, but had the appearance of a teenager with his hazel eyes and scruffy blonde hair. "And someone wants you dead."

Ezra waited, and waited, and waited for atleast a half hour, before he finally gave up with waiting for the return of his girlfriend. He pushed out his chair, ignoring the glare from his mother as he excused himself and began up the stairs.  
This was exactly why Ezra didn't want to come out, Aria was blatantly sick.  
"You know, I appreciate that you aren't so fond of me right now, but you could at least have the decency to say hello when you walk through the door." Diane said simply, standing beside Ezra at the top of the stairs.  
"Can we talk about this another time? I'm trying to find Aria." More like 'Please leave me alone, I hate you.'  
"You're very fond of this girl, no matter how much trouble she brings to you and your life."  
"I love her, Mom."  
"Maybe so, but does she?"  
"More than anything, she's my life."  
"You shouldn't put your life in that girl, Ezra. She'll break your heart."  
Ezra rolled his eyes, trying to be as polite as possible.  
"No, she won't. We've been through too much to stop now, we're endgame. I'm not going to give her up, not for anything, certainly not money." He paused, his next words firm. "So you can get on board, or stay out of mine and Aria's life."

All that Aria could think, was 'This is it.' The person who had his hands around her neck, who called himself Cyrus earlier on, was slowly squeezing the life out of the petite girl. Aria had to admit, this was not how she wanted to die. Maybe in fifty years, beside Ezra; But not now.  
"Tell Wesley I said hi." Was all that Aria heard as she closed her eyes as tight as she could, before a yell filled the room.  
"Get your hands off of her, right now." It was a demand, not a warning, and Aria opened her eyes to see Diane stood a few feet away, with Ezra sprinting down the hallway at full pelt. Cyrus leant forward, whispering into Aria's ear in a hushed tone.  
"I'd be careful who you trust, someone you know rather well hired me to kill you, and I'm going to." She threw her head back, the tears only becoming more frequent. He loosened his grip around her neck, allowing Aria to gasp for a breath as she dropped to the floor, clawing at her throat for some kind of air.  
Ezra was there in an instant, diving down at the floor as he collected his girlfriend into his arms, glancing behind him at his mother.

"Are you okay?!" Ezra rushed, pulling Aria's face up by his hands to search for any injuries, checking her over continuously. "Who the fuck was that?" He continued to search Aria's face and neck, despite her weak attempt to push him away. As much as she wanted to tell him to stop it, she couldn't breathe, let alone get her words out right. All that was coming out was wheezes, and coughs, before she let out a choked sob. Ezra collected her into his arms, rocking her back and forth.  
"It's okay, I promise you it'll be okay..."  
Neither could suppress what they felt or was thinking right now, it was something none of them could handle.  
Proof that there was a real threat out there.


	22. Chapter 22

"It's okay, I promise it'll be okay..." Was all Ezra kept saying, repeating his words over and over again, as if they meant something.  
It wasn't like Aria was paying attention anyway, she was still caught up in what'd happened a little while ago.  
The images were flashing through her mind, as she tried to remember where she had seen that face before, but nothing came to mind. It was just blank, and kept running into a brick wall.  
Eventually she became bored and annoyed of Ezra's constant reassurance.  
"Ezra, shut up." Aria murmured, in which Ezra instantly complied, going deadly silent.  
"Do I call the police?" A voice rang from behind them, reminding them both that Diane was still in the room. He glanced around, seeing that there were only three people stood in the room.  
"What's the bloody point? He's gone." Ezra spat out his words harshly, glaring at his mother. If looks could kill, she'd be six feet under. She only narrowed her eyes, emitting a melodramatic sigh.  
"What's going on, Ezra?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"Well, that man didn't just spontaneously turn up here to try and kill her, did he? Something's going on." Ezra rolled his eyes at her words. It had to be now that his mother wanted to get involved.  
"Just go downstairs, and finish off your dinner."  
"But-"  
Ezra cut her off, turning back around to face Aria. "Go." With that she left, turning on her heals and walking out down the stairs at a slow pace.  
"She's only trying to help." Aria said in a light tone, trying to pry herself from Ezra's arms. "There was no need to push her away."  
"What was I supposed to do, Aria?"  
"Not be an ass hole."  
"Someone just had their hands around your neck, did you expect me to just be okay about them? I'm fucking angry."  
"/You're/ angry?"  
"I thought all of this was dealt with, I'm not ecstatic to see something like that!"  
She let out a loud groan, shoving at his chest before raising to her feet.  
"I'm going for a walk." Aria announced, sorting out her dress to make sure it wasn't pulled too high up. Ezra immediately jumped in, wanting to do whatever he could to protect his girlfriend.  
"Let me come with y-"  
"No. I'll meet you back at the apartment. Go watch a movie, I'll be back soon."  
"Aria, this isn't a joke!" Ezra took Aria's face into his hands, never had he been so stern. "Someone just tried to kill you, and they will probably do it again, until you're six feet under. I can't fucking lose you, I refuse to." She emitted a deep sigh, placing her hands on top of his to drag them away.  
"Will you stop with the losing me? I'm not going anywhere, I promise you. This is just like what happened with -A, I can handle this." She took a deep breath, knowing that Ezra wasn't going to like the next part. "You don't need to keep me safe, or be my bodyguard all the time. You need to stop suffocating me."  
"Well, I'm sorry for being protective." Ezra's voice rose, becoming frustrated. He was hurt, angry, and all he wanted to do was take it girlfriend home. But obviously, Aria had other ideas.  
"There's a different between being protective, and smothering someone."  
"Why're you being so stubborn about this?" Be made sure to calm down now, shoving his hands in his trouser pockets.  
"Because I'm tired of being a threat! Why does it have to be me?!"  
"How the hell am I supposed to know? All I'm doing is trying to keep you safe. You live with me now, I /have/ to take care of you Aria, it's my job."  
Aria spat out her next words, folding her arms across her chest. "I'm not five years old Ezra, I don't need you."  
He went completely silent, just nodding his head in understanding.  
Aria instantly regretted what she had said, seeing how he had reacted to it just proved how harsh her words were. She opened her mouth to apologise, but by then Ezra was already heading down the hallway with his eyes glued to the floor.  
"Ezra..."  
"I'll meet you at home, take your time." He said dryly, walking down the stairs. He didn't bother saying a word to his mother, instead just headed straight out the door without a word. This wasn't Ezra, he wouldn't just walk out like that. This was what 'Wes' wanted. To cause a divide between Aria and Ezra.  
Aria's phone buzzed in her pocket, and she instantly pulled it out, reading the text with a sigh.  
~Feeling the pressure yet? I see an Aria without her Ezra around. ~  
With a groan, she shoved her phone into her pocket, and stormed down the hallway to run straight into Diane.  
"Is Ezra okay? He looked a little upset?" Diane asked sincerely, tilting her head a fraction.  
Sure, now you care, Aria thought, rolling her shoulders in a shrug.  
"We fought again."  
"Ezra loves you. Even though I don't condemn this whole relationship, I've never seen Ezra so happy. He would kill for you, Aria. Go find him, before you break his heart."  
Aria nodded, excusing herself, sprinting down the stairs and out the door.  
Only to find Ezra gone, tire marks in his tracks.


	23. Chapter 23

Wandering around the empty streets of Rosewood whilst it was raining definitely wasn't the best idea Aria had ever made. Especially since she wasn't wearing a jacket, and her dress was clinging to her petite frame so tightly she thought it'd stick.  
She was walking back towards Ezra's apartment, slowly and steadily, taking her time. Ezra's mothers' words stuck in her head like glue, running over and over them.  
'He'd kill for you.'  
It made Aria doubt herself, and Ezra for that matter. Would he kill for her? His own brother, perhaps? No, that's not Ezra. He's the sweetest person that she'd ever met.  
It was someone she knew that was trying to kill her. Spencer had been off with her? But then so had Hanna, her father and everyone else but Ezra. She wasn't in anyone's good books at the moment. There could be a lot of people.  
The only people that seemed to like Aria right now was Mike and Ezra, and she may have just messed all that up. So maybe she over reacted about it.  
Her hands moved up towards her neck, the violent images flashing across Aria's mind again. There's only so much that you can block out. The way he stared at her, it gave away nothing. His eyes were way to dark to read anything. He wouldn't of actually killed her, right? No, of course not. It was probably just a silly joke.  
She tried to convince herself that this wasn't true, and that there was no threat. Just a silly joke to frighten her.  
But Aria knew that this was definitely no joke, this was serious.

By the time Aria had reached the main doors to Ezra's apartment building, she couldn't feel any parts of her body. Each limb was frozen by the rain and coldness, the dress causing no protection against the chilly night. It was pitch black outside, apart from the few streetlights that illuminated the street.  
For a moment, she considered turning away and walking back down the street, maybe Hanna would have her for a few nights.  
But there was something that needed to be said, be admitted.  
She stiffly walked up the stairs, her teeth chattering together as they had done for the past hour and a half, before raising her hand up to knock on the door. Ezra must've been angry at her, so she didn't want to try her luck and just walk in.  
It took about a minute for the door to swing open, each passing second feeling like an eternity before she came to see the person that she'd killed earlier. Ezra had only just stepped out the shower, and the knocking of the door caused him to groan, and slip on a pair of boxers and his long robe. During the late winter nights, Aria would sleep in it, the extra layer keeping her warm at night.  
To say the Ezra was hurt by what Aria had said was an understatement. How could she say something like that? Be so heartless after everything that Ezra had done to keep her safe?  
All the anger and frustration instantly disappeared as Ezra saw her. Drip wet through, shivering and fragile. Like a piece of glass about to shatter. Despite all of this, he stayed quiet, slipping off his robe.  
"I need you." Aria whimpered, emitting a small sob as she spoke. In response, Ezra sighed softly, opening his arms for Aria to walk in to, which of course she did without question. He wrapped the robe around her body as she buried her face into his chest.  
"Jesus, Aria. You're freezing." Ezra said worriedly, rubbing his hand up and down her arms to try and transfer some heat to her body. He pulled himself away from her, pressing a kiss to her forehead. "Go take a shower, warm yourself up before you get sick."  
"We need to talk..."  
"After, go on." This was more of a demand, Ezra felt terrible looking at her in that state. With a reluctant sigh, Aria offered Ezra a warm smile, and disappeared behind the bathroom door.

Ezra sat down on the couch, placing down the cup of hot chocolate. He had topped it off with whipped cream and the small marshmallows that Aria loved, waiting for her to step out of the shower.  
He didn't wait much longer, as the door swung open and Aria stepped out.  
She lazily threw her dress and shoes onto the bed, curling her bottom lip-which had turned a purple colour from the cold-, and glanced down at Ezra. She had no idea what to do. He motioned for her to sit on his lap, a reassuring smile on his face.  
Happily, Aria picked up her cup of hot chocolate, and pulled Ezra's robe tighter around her body, before taking her seat on Ezra's lap, curling up against his naked upper body.  
"I didn't mean what I said, I need you." Aria said randomly, nodding in agreement with her words. "I'm tired of fighting with you..."  
"I hate fighting with you, over stupid things that shouldn't even be brought up in the first place." Aria only nodded again, picking off each marshmallow to plop into her mouth. "So, um.. Work called me a little while ago, they need me in tomorrow." Ezra murmured lowly, not really wanting his words to be heard.  
But the argument that he had expected to come didn't, instead she just placed down the hot chocolate and cuddled herself deeper into his chest.  
"I'll miss you."  
"I can call in sick, if that's what you want.. I don't need to go in tomorrow."  
"No, don't stop doing what you love because of me. Go and teach some sweaty freshmen's how to read." They both laughed at this, grinning at each other playfully, before a thought popped into Aria's head, and her expression dropped.  
"Everything okay?"  
"I was thinking, on my way over here..." She purposely paused, not wanting to say her next words; But they had to be said. "About how I've been feeling sick and throwing up all the time..." With a reluctant sigh, she glanced down at her hands, rushing out the words. "I'm late, Ezra."  
"Late?" He questioned, not quite sure what she was getting at here.  
"Yes, late." She raised her brows, Ezra catching on then. "And last time, we didn't..."  
Ezra's face dropped at that point, staring at her as if he was waiting for the 'April Fools!'  
But that didn't come, and Aria watched him with a blank expression.  
Aria wasn't completely sure that she was, or was not right here, but she could tell that Ezra wasn't ecstatic right now.  
Great, just what they needed.


	24. Chapter 24

Things had gotten pretty awkward after that, as you could've guessed. Suddenly, Ezra wasn't up for talking anymore, he just tried to sink into the sofa, completely forgetting that Aria was in his arms.  
He woke up at six, the ringing of the alarm reminding him that he had work. After taking a quick shower and changing into a shirt and his work trousers, Ezra grabbed some paper and a pen, jotting down a quick note for Aria when she woke up.  
Aria,  
Gone to work, will be back before you know it.  
Lock the door at all times.  
Love, Ezra.  
Ps- Get a test.

It felt weird writing that last sentence out, unreal. How could Ezra be so irresponsible, as to not use some kind of protection?  
Aria was only 18, for crying out loud! He had ruined her life.  
Of course, they weren't a hundred percent sure of all this, but it did add up.  
The constant throwing up, definitely the stubbornness.  
Ezra hated himself for it. What would they tell Aria's parents? Her friends? Everyone in Rosewood? They thought that Aria and Ezra had just gotten together recently. This wouldn't go down nicely with the police or the school.  
Snapping from his thoughts, Ezra placed the note down on the pillow on his side of the bed, taking a seat beside his sleeping girlfriend, as she snoozed peacefully in her sleep. He leant down and pressed a kiss to her forehead, grasping up his work things and exciting the apartment as quickly as he possibly could.

-  
Unlike Ezra, Aria slept in until at least ten, it was the longest that she'd slept in a while. She turned around, expecting to feel Ezra's hot breath on her as he whispered his sweet good mornings, but they she remembered that Ezra was at work, and she had nothing to cling onto.  
To say that things were awkward the previous day was an understatement. It was clear that neither Aria or Ezra were ready for this kind of responsibility.  
Aria was practically a child herself, not ready to be a parent.  
The crinkling sound of the paper caused Aria to open up her eyes, picking up the note to read through it.  
It was all okay, until the last line. That ruined it all, and made Aria cringe.  
No, she wouldn't.  
Because then she'd have to realise that this could actually be happening.  
The young girl supposed it was her own fault, for asking Ezra not to wear protection. Hey, it's not a girls fault if she wanted one hundred percent pleasure.  
With a simple grown, Aria scrunched up the paper into a ball, and lobbed it in any direction she could, turning over again in the bed, before the familiar feeling in her stomach returned again and she was sprinting towards the bathroom at full pelt.

After about ten minutes, Aria erupted from the bathroom, only to hear knocks at the door. She remembered the note that Ezra had given her, demanding that in this situation, she would not open the door.  
But what if it was the mailman? Or maybe Ella? She stood up on her tiptoes, leaning against the door to try and peek through it and see who was there.  
She only saw the back of a mans head that she couldn't recognise, a clear indication that she wasn't going to open the door.  
Aria took several steps away, the constant knocking sending Aria insane. You think someone would get the hint, wouldn't you? That she didn't want to answer the door, obviously the knocker had another idea.  
Aria wanted to scream 'Go away!" At the top of her lungs, but that would tell him that someone was in fact in the apartment, and that she was in fact ignoring him.  
But, then maybe it was urgent. One of Ezra's friends.  
"Are you going to open the door then?" A familiar voice rang, matching one of Ezra's friends exactly. Harry? No... Hardy. It was Hardy. She unlocked and pulled open the door, Hardy's eyebrows shooting up. "It's Aria, isn't it?"  
"Yes, Aria." She confirmed with an awkward nod. She glanced down at the long shirt she was wearing, self consciously crossing one leg over the other.  
"I was looking for Ezra..." He glanced around in the apartment. "Wait, you guys are still together?" She rolled her eyes at his words, scoffing nonchalantly. "He hasn't screwed it up yet, that's a first."  
"You have so much faith in your friend, Hardy."  
"You haven't known him as long as I have. I'm surprised he isn't in an orange jumpsuit yet. How'd you do it?"  
"Do what? Stay together? There's this thing called love."  
"Yeah, sure..." Hardy said, acting interested in their conversation. "So, Ezra?"  
"He's back at work, he left a few hours ago. Want me to pass on a message for when he gets back?"  
Hardy turned, heading out the door at a slow pace, spinning around to say a few final words to Aria.  
"Just tell him that she left."  
"Who?" Instead of answering, he began walking back into the apartment, dropping down onto the couch. "Um..."  
"I guess I'll wait here for Ezra." With a small sigh, he glanced up at the school girl. That's all he saw her as, a school girl who wanted to get Ezra into trouble. He told Ezra it'd last a month, and now here they were almost two years later. "I need his advice, about something."  
"Actually, I'm going out to get some stuff...-" Aria was cut off by Hardy, who obviously wasn't leaving in a rush.  
"I'll wait here. Ezra should be back soon."

To be honest, as upset and awkward Ezra felt, he couldn't wait to get home. Sitting in a classroom full of sweaty teenagers definitely wasn't his favourite thing to do. Obviously, Ezra loved his job, but sometimes he couldn't stand it. Especially the students who liked to think they were better than anyone else, little shits as Ezra called them.  
He practically ran up the stairs, putting his key in the lock to find it was open.  
"Aria, I thought I told you to lock the door.." Ezra said, as if he was telling a child off, dropping his bag down before he could walk through the door fully. "Did you get a-" It's then that he saw Hardy sat on the couch, feet propped up on the coffee table as he munched his way through Ezra and Aria's popcorn. They always had it, for movies.  
"Ezra!" Hardy yelled happily, throwing his arms into the air like a five year old. "Your girlfriends boring."  
"Shut up, Hardy." Aria grumbled from in the bathroom, stepping out to glare at Hardy. She glanced at Ezra, offering him a weak smile, in which Ezra mouthed a quick 'I love you,' causing her smile to grow. "Hardy's been her for six... Freaking... Hours. Please tell him to leave."  
"I'm here to talk to Ezra, thanks for the concern though." Hardy shot her the ninth wink of the day, Aria groaning as she poofed back into the bathroom to continue sorting out her messy hair.  
"What're you doing here?" Ezra asked, pulling off his tie and undoing the top button to his shirt.  
"Annie and I broke up,"  
"Again?"  
"It's only happened twice!"  
"Nine times, Hardy."  
This silenced Hardy, as he counted it up in his head. "Oh, yeah..." For a moment, they stayed quiet. "We thought that she was.. You know. Pregnant. And we had a huge row and she left."  
Ezra glanced over at the bathroom door, where Aria stood, her arms folded nervously over her chest.  
"Continue..."  
"She didn't think we could handle it, or something. Left in a rage, again. It's like she doesn't understand. I think I'm ready, you know? Like I want to be a Dad. She thinks I'm a child but I'm not. But I don't want to lose her because of this. Maybe she won't want the baby, and that'd cause shit for us, Ezra. It's like you and Aria having a baby, that's what she thinks it's like for us. It'd be awkward and illegal for one, but anyway, I want to be with Annie."  
"Just do what you always do, Hardy. Write her something mushy and tell her you love her." Hardy rolled his eyes, groaning as he realised he wasn't getting much more from Ezra.  
"I waited six hours for that? You've lost your touch, man." He took the bag of popcorn, and swiftly disappeared from the apartment door. "Thanks for the popcorn."  
"He was really here six hours? You should've called.." Aria rolled her shoulders in a nonchalant shrug, her arms folded over her stomach to hide it. She was wearing only her bra, mid way through getting changed.  
"I didn't want to bother you at work. I hid in the bathroom for most of it." Ezra was rumbling through his bag, before he pulled out a light blue cardboard box. She immediately knew what it was, but tried to act as though she hadn't see it.  
"Come here." Ezra said, motioning for her to come closer. She did as she was told, stopping to lean over the sofa to look at him. "It needs to be done, Aria. We need to know, as soon as possible. I couldn't stop myself from worrying today, worrying that I'd ruined your life." Aria didn't say a word, her eyes stayed glued to the floor as she took the box from his hands, and escaped towards the bathroom, locking the door behind her.  
They probably weren't the best words to choose.

Aria stepped out not five minutes later, the white stick in her hands as she placed it on the coffee table in front of him, and took a seat next to her boyfriend.  
"You couldn't ever ruin my life." She whispered in a gentle tone, glancing up at Ezra. "I promise." He leant over to intertwine their hands, giving her hand a light squeeze. It was something small, but it was a promise that everything between them was okay.


	25. Chapter 25

Okay, so first of all here's a little authors note. This story was originally posted as a one shot on Twitter as a Twit-longer, until I was convinced by my best friend Cuppy to post it on here. She's the person who makes me write everyday, and won't sleep until I've supplied her with a daily fix of this story. She's really amazing, and if she wasn't here none of this would be either so go read her story, it's the best thing ever! Her Username is StandByEzria! Seriously read it! It'll give you all kinds of mushy feels and I promise you'll be emotionally unstable by the end of it. No, I'm kidding but seriously. READ!  
Thanks!

It took all of five minutes until it was time to check the small white stick on the table. Neither of them wanted to look at it, it'd mean they'd have to accept what the answer was, and none wanted to do that.  
They had been talking, about what would happen if Aria was to become pregnant. How they'd tell Byron, and explain it to the school. It wouldn't go down well, but they'd manage.  
"I can't do it, you pick it up." Aria said, covering her eyes with her hands childishly.  
Ezra grimaced, shaking his head. "You're the one that peed on it, you check."  
"You're the one that released the package inside of /me/, so you check." Ezra went to argue, but Aria shot him a serious glare, and he picked up the test.  
At first, Aria nor Ezra even looked, it was too nerve-wrecking. Finally, after a second of looking away, Ezra peeked down at the test, his expression telling Aria the answer that she needed.  
"Oh, thank God for that." She announced, throwing her hands into the air. "I'm so sorry..."  
Ezra didn't give Aria the reaction that she'd hoped for, and soon she was staring at him, shuffling to straddle his waist. "Are you alright?" He just nodded his head, forcing a struggled smile on to his face. "Ezra, this is a good think. Now you won't go to prison, and my Dad won't kill me. We're not ready yet."  
"I know, I know. I just... I was kind of excited about this. We don't need this right now, and I know the timings off but... I want us to have a family."  
"And we will, when I'm not eighteen and when you're not under the risk of being locked away for making me pregnant." She slipped her arms up and around his neck, playing with a small strands of hair at the nape of it. "I promise you. Let's just wait, until college and all that is out of the way first, okay?"  
"Okay, okay." With another nod of his head, Ezra ran hands along the bare sides of her body, purposely digging his nails into her skin.  
"No sex." Aria said sternly, shaking a finger at the now pointing teacher. "Don't give me that look." He increased his tactic, dragging his fingertips over her inner thighs as I gave the best puppy dog look he could. "No." She growled out, knowing exactly what he was getting at here. "Not five seconds after finding out that I'm not pregnant. No."  
"But... Protection..."  
"Ezra." He grumbled under his breath, folding his arms across his chest in defeat. Like a selfish child. "Oh, stop sulking. I can still do this." She leant in, capturing his lips in a deep kiss. It wasn't until she pulled away that Aria realised the swelling of her bottom lip. "You bit me."  
"I bite you a lot, helps with the sexual frustration" Ezra shrugged his shoulders, prodding his girlfriends stomach. "Why did you let Hardy have the popcorn?"  
Aria gasped, shaking her head as she spoke. "/I/ didn't. I went to the bathroom, and when I came back he had one of your beers, some horror film playing and a full bag of popcorn."  
"You get so worked up sometimes." He shook his head in amusement, causing Aria to pout and shove at his chest.  
"Oh please, you do too."  
"How exactly do I get worked up? I'm pretty good with self control." Aria shook her head, her lips moving towards his neck. "Don't you dare..." Before he could think up of a threat to make, she had bitten down on the sensitive skin just above his collarbone, sucking on the skin long enough to leave a mark. Ezra let out a mix of growls and moans as she did so, trying not to let himself be effected by her game. She moved her lips along a little, about to bite again when there was a knock at the door.  
"I swear to god if that's Hardy again..." Aria warned, gritting her teeth together. Six hours of Hardy's constant moaning had given Aria a terrible impression on him.  
"It wouldn't be. He'll be halfway across town by now."  
"What if it's one of 'Wes's' people? I'm not up for being choked to death, thanks." Aria's tone was laced with sarcasm, her eyes glued to the door. It wasn't a persistent knock, so it couldn't of been important.  
But something told Ezra that it wouldn't be. So he pressed a kiss to his girlfriend's lips, and raised to his feet, pulling her along with him. "I'll just see who it is." He whispered in a hushed tone, nudging Aria in the direction of the bathroom. "Wait! Take this. And put on a shirt." He picked up the small white test, and threw it in Aria's direction. She grimaced as she caught it, speeding into the bathroom to close it behind her.  
Ezra made his way towards the door, pulling it open a fraction. He let out a small sigh of relief as he saw Mike stood there, his hands shoved in his pockets.  
"Hey, Mike." Ezra said with a wide grin, stepping aside so Mike could step through the door. "Everything alright?"  
He nodded once, walking towards the bathroom door to push it open.  
Thankfully, Aria had slipped on her top moments before Mike pushed open the door.  
"Mike!" Aria exclaimed, pulling her younger brother into a tight hug. "You alright? What're you doing here?"  
"I need to talk to you, Aria." Mike's tone told Aria that this was urgent.  
"Sure, um.." Aria glanced at Ezra, and he turned to take a seat on the couch, whilst Aria dragged Mike into the bathroom, speaking in a whisper to him.

Their talk wasn't long, about twenty minutes, and soon they were both exiting the bathroom, Aria nervously trudging behind Mike. After a moment of silence, Ezra ran a hand through his hair, raising to his feet.  
"Anyone want a coffee?"  
"Actually, Mike's going to stay up at the cabin for a few days, right Mike? He just needed the spare key." She grasped up her bag, searching into the front compartment for the spear key that Ella had placed in there a few weeks earlier, with a small letter. It was Ezra and Aria's chance of a getaway, if they needed it. She handed the key over to Mike, wrapping her arms around him. "Call me, if you need anything okay?"  
"I promise, thank you." With that Mike was walking towards the door, turning to Aria before vanishing down the hall. "I didn't mean to do it."

Ezra shot Aria a confused look, but she pretended not to notice it, taking a can of cola from the fridge to pop the lid and take a sip out of it.

"So... What's for dinner? I'm starving." Aria asked, purposely trying to distract Ezra from asking any questions. This was one thing he didn't need to know, not now. "I'm up for pizza, what about you?" Instead of arguing, Ezra just shrugged his shoulders , nodding.

"I'll get the phone."


	26. Chapter 26

Hey, guys! I know these past few chapters have been boring, but I promise that they're all vital to the story! Thanks for sticking by me!

~Ezra and Aria were both splayed out on Ezra's bed, messing around on the late June Saturday. He was laid level with her stomach, prodding at the large bump that stood on Aria's stomach.  
"Two weeks, five days." Ezra announced proudly, tracing patterns along the bump. It was the biggest shock that they could've had right and a half months earlier, but they had managed to deal with it in their own way. Aria finished school without anybody questioning her sudden weight gain, then they told Byron, and Ella. Obviously, Ezra left with a fat lip but they all managed to come to some kind of agreement after both had calmed down. "And then, we meet Little Fitz."  
"We've talked about this, Ezra. He's going to take my last name, for a while at least." Aria said simply, watching Ezra try and hide the disappointment she would always see on his face when they would talk about this. It was simply to keep Ezra's name out of the picture, a security. Despite school being over, Ezra could still be sent to prison for this.  
"I know..." He trailed off, blowing out a depressed sigh. This was his first baby with Aria, he wanted the little boy to take Ezra's last name, of course. A claim that he was his. That he could just show him to everyone. It was also a mini Ezra, which excited him even more.  
They had both found out that their first born was a boy after Spencer and Aria went to the ultrasound; In which Ezra wasn't allowed to attend for obvious reasons.  
It was just a name that they were stuck on, they couldn't decide.  
With another sigh, Ezra shuffled closer to his girlfriend, speaking directly down to the bump. "Just because you don't have my last name, doesn't mean that I love you any less." He shook his head, before continuing. "And I'm going to be an amazing Daddy, and spoil you like crazy. Me and your Mommy will make sure you have everything you could ever want, right?" He looked up at Aria for approval, in which she nodded, tears filling her eyes. He was always so mushy. "And you'll be the greatest little boy that anyone's ever met." Proud of his words, Ezra sealed the promise with a kiss to Aria's stomach, before Aria let out a gasp. "What?! What's wrong?"  
"He kicked!" Aria yelled in excitement, taking Ezra's hand to place it right above the destination of the kicking. "Feel it?"  
At first, Ezra didn't feel anything, until something moved beneath his hand.  
"That's him kicking?" Ezra asked in amazement, a wide grin spreading across his features. This was the first time that Ezra had been present during the baby boys kicking. Everyone had felt it; Spencer, Hanna, Emily, Ella. Heck, even Mike had!  
"Sure is! It feels weird, doesn't it?" Aria teased, placing her hand above Ezra's. His eyes were practically sparkling with excitement.  
His face suddenly dropped, a memory reminding him of something. "I need to be there." She let out a groan, shaking her head slowly.  
"You can't, we agreed that you'd stay here whilst I was at the hospital. It'll be safer."  
"But, I won't be the first to see him. Spencer will. I'm his Daddy, I should."  
"I love you." As she whispered out her words, she made grabby hands at her boyfriend, wanting to be in his arms for a little while. Without any arguments, Ezra climbed up the bed, settling behind Aria so she could sink into his chest. "You'll meet him the moment I get home, Ezra. You'll be able to tell him that you're his Daddy in the apartment, and show him around. You'll get to be Daddy."  
"And you'll be Mommy, who's loved less. I'll be his favourite." Ezra teased, pressing a kids to her bare shoulder. "I'll teach him how to write. Little author in the making."  
"Oh, shut up." Aria argued, glaring up at him. "Mommy and baby always have a stronger bond, so you're looking at the favourite right here." Almost as an instinct, both of their hands moved to settle on Aria's stomach, Aria's staying still whilst Ezra ran his fingertips along the skin. He pulled one hand back, and began playing around with her hair. "You barely slept last night, you should get some rest." Aria stared at Ezra for a moment, wondering how he could've known that; He was asleep. "I could hear you roaming through the baby name books at four AM. Did you find any?"  
She shook her head, sighing as she spoke. "Only one, but I don't know. I quite like. I like Scott" She huffed, trailing off as Ezra began to play with her hair. It was something to do with their favourite book; The Great Gatsby. "But it doesn't..." With that she was out like a light, snoring contently to herself as she slept~

Ezra woke up in an instant, his eyes flying open at the dream that he'd just had. It was different, amazing. He loved every second of it. Sitting up in the bed, He glanced down at Aria as she laid splayed out on her side of the bed, hair swung over her right shoulder.  
It was an ironic dream. A bright side to what would've happened if Aria was pregnant. But she wasn't, and for some reason this left Ezra disappointed.  
"You okay?" Aria's voice came from beside him, his shuffling and moving causing her to awake."Go back to sleep, it's still dark." She offered him a warm smile, in which he returned happily. He leant down to press a kiss to her forehead, slipping back down under the covers, as Aria shuffled up against his chest.  
But now, Ezra didn't feel tired. The only image floating around in his head was the one of his hands on Aria's stomach, whispering promises to the unborn baby. It was something that touched him deeply, made him feel all fuzzy inside.  
And so, Ezra laid awake the entire night, his hand occasionally running over Aria's stomach without even realising. He hadn't felt like this before, not ever. It was... Rather peculiar. Did Ezra want a baby with Aria this young?  
No, of course not. It was absurd. It had to be, it was just the stupid dream talking. It had obviously brainwashed Ezra's mind. Even when he tried not to think about it, he couldn't stop. It was like it was constantly there, in his mind. So he gave up, and maneuvered himself from Aria, and slipped from the bed, heading straight to the fridge to pull out a can of cola, dropping down onto the couch. It must of only been four am, but Ezra had work in only a few hours, he needed to sleep.  
It wasn't until something dropped down beside him, that he exited from his thoughts, and almost jumped up in shock.  
"Jesus Christ! Don't do that to me!" Ezra said, taking in the intake of breath that he'd missed. Aria didn't say anything. Instead, she just climbed on to straddle his lap, pressing their chests together before resting her head in the crook of Ezra's neck. "Comfortable?" She mumbled out a yes in response, arms wrapping around his torso. "I have work soon, Aria." This time his voice was only a whisper, watching curiously as she pulled back a fraction, furiously crashing her lips to his. She didn't hold back, even if she was tired. She put everything into the kiss, pulling away after a few seconds to regIn her previous stance. "What was that for?"  
"Not hating me for almost being pregnant. I expected you to walk out." She muttered sleepily, shrugging her shoulders as Ezra began running his had up and down Aria's back in a soothing manner.  
"I'm never going to walk out on you, Aria. I love you."  
"Oh, and it was also just in case you're gone when it wake up alone in the morning." He let out a laugh at this, shaking his head in amusement.

"okay."


	27. Chapter 27

It wasn't long after that, that Aria began feeling queazy again, and practically spewed her guts out into the toilet. If she had been a tad slower, she wouldn't of made it to the toilet on time.  
She had demanded that Ezra still go to work, regardless of her constant puking.  
"Stop fussing and go to work." She had said, try to pry away Ezra as he pulled the covers over her body in their bed. "I'll be fine in an hour."  
Of course, Ezra was fussing. Whatever was making her sick still hadn't gone away yet, this could've been serious. "I'm taking you to the doctors as soon as I get home." Ezra ordered, running his hand along her forehead for the ninth time in the last twenty minutes. "Whatever this is should've cleared up by now." He leant down to press a gentle kiss to her forehead, running his hand along her cheek in an affectionate manner. He didn't want to leave her like this, but of course stubborn Aria forced him to.  
"Just go to work." Aria whined, pulling the covers over her face and turning away from him. Ezra reluctantly left, locking the door behind him.

Now, Aria had been in bed all day, sleeping peacefully when Ezra pulled up outside the apartment, grasping his work things and heading up the stairs. He had called the doctors an hour prior, booking her an appointment. That way his girlfriend couldn't argue.  
When he reached the top of the stairs, he saw the apartment door wide open, causing his immediate panic to kick in. He dropped his things down on to the floor, rushing into the apartment as quickly as he could. It was the reason work would go so slowly, he wanted to get back to Aria. To protect her, like he said he would.  
"Aria?" He yelled as loud as he could, rushing towards the bed to check that his girlfriend was still there. Ezra didn't notice the damage done to the room, only the sleeping girl under the bed. "Aria..."  
"Hmm?" Aria murmured, her eyes fluttering open. The fear in Ezra's eyes told her something wasn't right.  
"Someone's been in the apartment." Ezra pulled the blanket away from Aria's body, checking her over again, and then once more. "Did they touch you at all? Did you hear anything? What did you hear? Are you okay? Didn't you feel anything? I told you I shouldn't of left you here alone , Aria! It must've been-" Aria cut Ezra off, shaking her head before speaking.  
"Shhh... I'm fine. I was asleep." She raised a hand to rub it down his cheek, her eyes beginning to droop already.  
"I shouldn't of left you here alone, I should've demanded that I stayed and made sure that you felt better. Why did you make me leave?" Ezra began hyperventilating, his panic only rising. He pulled out his phone from his pocket, shakily trying to dial 911. Aria reached up, taking the phone from his hands slowly.  
"You have a teenage girl in your bed, that's not going to go down well." The police needed to be called. Ezra had left Aria alone without anyone to watch her, in this state.  
"Someone broke into the apartment, they could've hurt you! And I left you alone! How could I think that going back to work was okay? You were forced into sex by my own brother, stalked and now almost killed! That's it, I-" With a roll of her eyes, Aria grabbed the pillow beside her and whacked Ezra over the head with it.  
"Shut. Up, stop going on. I'm fine, I'm not hurt." She turned over, burying herself under the covers as the sickness began to return. Ezra picked up on it straight away, grasping the bucket that they'd placed beside the bed, and held it up. He pulled her hair back with his free hand, waiting a few moments until she was laid down again.  
"Still not feeling any better?" He pushed aside the more pressing issue, and placed the back of his hand on Aria's forehead, the heat radiating onto his hand causing him to panic. "I called the doctor, we have an appointment as five."  
"Cancel it, I don't want to move."  
"You need to see what's wrong, Aria. Work with me here..."  
"Don't make me go..." Was all Aria said, pushing her lips out in a pout. "I want to stay here and sleep." It was a pout Ezra just couldn't refuse.  
"Okay, okay..." Ezra whispered, brushing a hand through her hair. "You sure that didn't hear anything? Not even the door opening?" She shook her head no, trying to sit up in the bed. Ezra however pushed at her shoulders, trying to get her to lie back down again.  
Not much damage had been done. The table was upside down and hanging from the sofa, most of the glasses were smashed, and the drawers at the end of Ezra's bed was pulled out.  
"Did they take anything?" Aria questioned, running her hand along Ezra's arm.  
"I don't know..." He trailed off, moving towards the drawer. He searched through it, knowing exactly what he was looking for. "Whoever it is took our photo album." Ezra said, brushing it off as nothing. "They also took Wesley's book."  
"Why would they need that?!"  
"No idea." He glanced back at his girlfriend. It was then that Ezra noticed the piece of paper on the bedside cabinet. He picked up the white piece of paper, and scanned over the words.  
You really shouldn't leave your little girlfriend alone, Mr Fitz.  
Wouldn't want anybody to hurt her now, would we?  
It wasn't until he reached the end of the note that he saw a lock of brown hair taped to the bottom of it. Aria snatched the letter from his grasp, reading over it before her eyes grew wide, and she shot up, trying to find where the hair had been taken from.  
"Get up, we've got to go." Ezra ordered sternly, scrunching up the letter. "You're not being put in danger anymore."  
"Ezra, stop. We can't just run away."  
"We can try, you could've been killed today."  
She rolled her eyes, sitting up and crawling off the bed. "I want Ezra back, my Ezra. Not this overprotective one."  
"I'm trying to keep you safe, if you haven't noticed."  
"What happened to the Ezra that would rather spend all day cuddled up on the couch watching a black and white movie? Or who spends most of his free time reading and writing? What the hell happened?"  
"I realised that someone wants to kill my girlfriend, which obviously you don't seem to care about."  
"I've been stalked before, you learn to live with it. Stop fussing, stop worrying. Stop being like this. Be Ezra again." Through all this, Aria refused to glance at Ezra, instead inspecting her painted nails.  
"I don't want you to get hurt!" Ezra's voice rose, before he managed to control it again, folding his arms over his chest. "I'm tired of you getting hurt. This has something to do with Wesley, who I brought into your life."  
"You feel guilty?" Aria asked in surprise, glancing up at her boyfriend. "You didn't cause this."  
"I might as well of."  
"Right, that's is," She raised to her feet, tired of all of this. "We're not going to be afraid of them anymore. We're finding out who this is, and ending it before anyone gets hurt." She folded her arms over her chest, rolling her shoulders in a gently shrug. "I say bring it."


	28. Chapter 28

Aria wasn't giving in, and she certainly wasn't going to call the police. What would that cause? More drama, more danger. It would solve nothing. All it would do is put more pressure on them, put them in more trouble. Ezra didn't need that. He was trying to be strong, Aria could see that. But the sudden outburst a day prior had shown her how terrified he really was. He didn't want to lose his girlfriend, of course not. He would kill for her, do anything to make sure that she was safe.  
That's what terrified Aria.  
They were currently sat at different sides of the apartment, going about there own business; A few glances shared every few moments.  
Aria wanted to find out who this stalker was independently, and put a stop to them before any more damage was done.  
Ezra, on the other hand wanted to call the police, and get this properly looked at. It'd save an risks of people getting hurt, Aria just couldn't see that. She was so determined on being stubborn and getting it all done by herself, that she could fix this like she fixed the -A business. It's like she was trying to get herself killed.  
"Are we just going to sit here and stare at each other, or are you going to tell me what's going on?" Aria suddenly blurted out, throwing her magazine down onto the bed.  
"What're you talking about?" Ezra asked in a mumble, not even bothering to glance up at her. "I'm reading."  
"You haven't spoken to me for the past two hours, and I have no idea what I've done wrong."  
"I'm just reading."  
"You're such a jerk." She muttered under her breath, shaking her head.  
"Well that was uncalled for."  
"Well if my boyfriend actually spoke to me, I wouldn't think like that."  
He rolled his eyes, setting down his book beside the couch. "Stop being stubborn, I haven't done anything wrong, and you're just randomly being moody."  
"Oh, shut up. I don't need this right now." Aria spat out, turning over in the bed to face the wall. "I have a lot going on right now, in case you haven't noticed yet." Her tone was laced with sarcasm, it was an end to the argument. She hoped it would be.  
"/We/ have a lot going on right now, you mean. Us."  
"No, you're not being stalked. You weren't nearly killed last week." She paused, before continuing. "You didn't almost die and end up in the hospital."  
Ezra answered almost instantly, his voice rising slightly. "And who's fault is that? I didn't make you do it."  
"Well if you were actually there for me then I wouldn't of felt the need to cut my wrist."  
"You promised to come back and you didn't!"  
"Well maybe I thought that you didn't love me. It was the only thing I could do."  
"Are you seriously blaming me for this?!" Ezra yelled, raising to his feet.  
"Who else would I blame for making me try to kill myself? You're the person that broke my heart." Aria felt the tears well in her eyes, her wrist beginning to itch at the memory of it. Ezra was about to snap back, when he heard the small sniffle come from his girlfriend, and he instantly shut up.  
Guilty wasn't the word to describe how he felt at this point. "I didn't..." Ezra began, cutting himself off as he began towards the bed. He crawled onto it, shuffling up to lay behind Aria, pressing himself against her back. "I'm sorry..." He whispered in a gentle tone, his arm slipping around her. "I'm sorry I made you do that." Aria leaned against his chest, all of her anger flying out the window as his arms slipped around her petite frame, the gesture warming her entire body.  
"I shouldn't of blamed you for what I did, I'm sorry." Neither wanted to raise their voices to more than a whisper, the almost silence being comforting to them. "I shouldn't of been so harsh earlier, you're just trying to protect me."  
"I'm scared of you being hurt, that's all." She turned in his arms, raising a hand to run along his cheek. "I can't lose you again."  
She leaned forward, brushing her lips against his. "I'm not going anywhere. We're not being split up." She held out her pinky finger, Ezra emitting an almost inaudible laugh.  
"I'm going to kiss you too, just to deal the deal." He linked his finger with her own, pressing his lips to her own.  
And then it was like an instinct.  
Aria was above Ezra, slipping her tongue past his lips into her mouth, pulling her thin tank top over her head to throw on the floor.  
In a flash his shirt was unbuttoned, her nails raking along his toned chest to leave small red marks in her tracks.  
"What're we doing?" Ezra asked suddenly, pulling back a fraction to look her in the eye.  
"We're making up for lost time, nights spent awake because we were terrified. This is me fighting back." Aria said, before her lips smashed against her boyfriends, and they began again. Ezra pulled off his shirt, her hair falling to one side as she leant over him, a growl slipping through her lips as she pushed on his shoulders. Ezra snapped his teeth at her in a teasing manner, trying to switch the two round but her grip was too tight on him, it wouldn't work no matter how hard he tried. Instead; he tried a different approach, tilting his hips up to brush his growing bulge against her.  
"Off." Aria did what Ezra ordered, slipping her shorts and underwear off as if it was nothing, pushing herself along his sensitive spot to cause his hips to buck slightly. "Stop teasing." Aria just rolled her eyes, every spark igniting inside of her body as she unbuckled his jeans, and yanked them down along with his boxers, allowing his large length to spring free.  
"I think I'm going to enjoy this..." She trailed off, tracing patterns along his longer stomach, before lifting herself up and aligning her entrance with his length, before dropping herself down.  
Ezra let out a hiss, rolling his hips to low her to absorb the feeling. He held out his hand, which she took happily.

"No holding back."

"Wouldn't dream of it"


	29. Chapter 29

"Noel." Ezra said suddenly, as he laid behind his girlfriend, spooning her whilst their legs stayed tangled together. "He has some kind of grudge against us for some reason."  
For the last ten minutes, they had been discussing everything and anything about who this stalker was. Neither could decide, way too many people disliked them both.  
"No, he moved on and got over that. We aren't the main target now, so it won't be him. What about Jackie? She's hardly our biggest fan. She could be behind it?" As good as Aria's theory was, Ezra knew Jackie. It wasn't her. Aria pulled Ezra's hand down towards hers, and intertwined their grin gets together as he began to press kisses to her bare shoulder.

"No, she wouldn't. Anyway, if we're putting Jackie on the list, Jenna's going on there too. Oh, and you can add Connor."  
"I barely know Connor, Ezra. I bet he doesn't even remember my name."  
"Well he lied so that people would think that you both ha-" Aria cut him off, furiously shaking her head.  
"Alright, we're not going into that again." She paused, fighting against his fingers as he wrestled with them. "What about Maggie? Cece? There are a lot of people to list, anyone could be trying to kill us." Aria began to panic, the thoughts and curiosity sending her insane. She needed to know, before she lost it.  
"Calm down, don't let yourself get too worked up..." Ezra whispered soothingly, biting down on the delicate skin of her shoulder.  
"How many marks have you left on my skin? That must be at least three." Ezra let out an amused laugh, pulling back to count the small marks on her neck.  
"Five, actually." Aria faked a gasp, reaching for her neck to run her fingers over the sensitive marks now visible on her neck. "I could always go for a six?" Aria was about to answer, when they heard a knock at the door. She let out a groan, wiggling her hips.  
"I was just about to suggest round three..." She sighed in frustration, sitting up in the bed. "Later?"  
"You bet." Ezra sat up with a grunt, pressing a final kiss to Aria's lips before pulling away. "Get dressed, oh and put on a scarf." With a sigh, she did as she was told, grabbing some underwear and some leggings out of her bag, just throwing on the tank too from before and grabbing up her skull and crossbones scarf.  
By that time, Ezra was already fully clothes and had already opened the door, staring at whoever was behind it.  
"You're not upsetting her." Ezra warned the mysterious man, Aria sneaking up behind Ezra to see who had dared to disturb them. She was having was too much fun, all of the thoughts and panic proofing as soon as his lips touched her skin.  
"Dad?"  
He didn't look himself. His hair was all over the place, his face was covered in muck and he could barely stand up straight. "Are you drunk?"  
"Go wait inside." Ezra warned, knowing that something was going to happen, Byron was here to do something.  
"He's my Dad, Ezra. I think I know how to handle my own father when he's drunk." Ezra pushed the door shut slightly so that he could speak to Aria privately. "He looks like he's ready to kill, he needs to leave before he does some damage."  
They heard a scoff from behind the door. "I'm only here to collect Aria." The strange tone of voice caused Aria to feel weary, lacing her hand with Ezra's. "Come on, no body needs to get hurt if you just hand her over." Ezra's eyebrows shot up then, his threatening words sounding nothing but real. It was then that he noticed the bulge in Byron's left pocket, and leant towards Aria.  
"Go try and call Ella, and then go wait inside." Knowing that this was hardly safe, Aria nodded once, and disappeared into the apartment with her phone to dial her mothers number.  
"Everything okay, Aria?" Ella's voice rung through the phone, the voice she'd missed way too much. "What's wrong?"  
"Dads here, and he's drunk. I don't know what he's trying to do but there's something in his pocket and... Just get over here."  
She heard Ella let out a frustrated sigh, mumbling words to herself. Ella knew he'd try something like this, it was only a matter of time.  
"Don't let him in. I'll wait outside the apartment for when he comes out." Aria spun around to tell Ezra, but Byron was already pushing past him into the apartment.  
"Come on, get your stuff." Byron ordered, approaching Aria to give her a nudge. Aria didn't move however, and just stood still, arching a brow. "Come on then."  
In Byron's mind, he only wanted his daughter safe and at home. Not with the monster that'd taken her away in the first place.  
"Dad, I'm staying here with Ezra."  
Obviously, Byron didn't like that, because he grabbed Aria by the arm and pushed her in the direction of the drawers.  
"Hey, don't touch her." Ezra growled out, becoming protective over his girlfriend. Even if Byron was her father, no one was allowed to touch her that way. "Get your hands off my girlfriend, Byron." Byron only rolled his eyes, gripping tighter at his daughters arm. Aria winced lightly, gritting her teeth together to hide the pain that rushed along her arm. "Let. Go." Was all Ezra said, not wanting to get too close in case he did something drastic. Byron pushed Aria behind him, as if he was trying to protect her.  
"Hurry up, Aria. Get your stuff and let's get out of here."  
"I'm staying here..." Aria muttered quietly, trying to push past her father. "With Ezra."  
"No. I demand you pack up and come with me. It'd be a real shame if someone was to call the school and inform them of this, don't you?"  
"I've graduated, you can't do that..." She trailed off, taking a jump towards Ezra, but Byron pulled his arm backwards, almost toppling onto her.  
And then that was it, Ezra lost it.  
He dived for Byron, shoving him out the way so that he could tend to Aria as she let out a sniffled sob, running her hand over her cheek. He reached out to stroke it but Byron managed to pull Ezra back, and sent a fist straight into his face.  
"Dad!" Aria exclaimed, rushing over to an expressionless Ezra, he just stood un-phased. "Get out."  
"Aria..." Byron began, trying to reach for her, but Ezra pulled her back. "We're your family, not him. This is your last chance, or you lose me forever." Aria glanced between Ezra and Byron, both having an intense stare of with each other. "Do you want to be called the class slut for the rest of your life? Just because your English teacher couldn't keep his hands off you?"  
Ezra let out a sarcastic laugh. "You're one to talk."  
"She's going to be named as the slut, the whore. What, it's not like you actually love her or anything. You just want her body, and then you'll throw her back like a used toy." Ezra gritted his teeth, his breathing beginning to become uneasy as he failed to hide his anger.  
"I love your daughter."  
"You've ruined her life, Ezra Fitz. Taken away our Aria." That hit Ezra, hard. But he didn't let that show. "You killed our Aria Montgomery." The last thing that Ezra wanted was for Aria to see him hit her Dad, but he had no choice. Obviously, Aria picked up on it as he stepped forward, managing to place a hand on his chest to stop him.  
Ezra glanced down at Aria, the anger beginning to subside. She shook her head, raising a hand to brush along his cheek. The tears rolling down her cheek made sure that there was still anger there, but he managed to control it. She turned again, leaning against her boyfriends chest.  
"Move out of the way." Byron ordered, pulling the object that they had all been wondering to see. A small gun.  
"No." Aria said shakily, as Ezra tried to manoeuvre her out of the way to safety, but she wouldn't budge. "You're not going to hurt him." Ezra hated this side of Aria, the side that would try to stand her ground and protect others. This wasn't something silly anymore. Instead of fighting and making Byron smug, he reached out for Aria's hand, running his thumb along the side of her hand. "I love him."  
This seemed to anger Byron even more, their affection becoming too much as he lashed out at Aria, smacking her straight around the face. She let out an almost screech, losing her balance before Ezra could reach her and dropped to the ground.  
It wasn't until a second later that Byron realised what he had done, murmuring out apologies as he ran from the apartment in an an instant.


	30. Chapter 30

It hadn't taken Ezra long to lock the door, and move towards his girlfriend as she sat helplessly on the floor holding her cheek.  
"Let me see it.." Ezra began, trying to get Aria to look at him. She wouldn't. She just sat with her back to him, a hand placed on her cheek.  
She was purposely doing it, she didn't want Ezra's pity right now. With a small sniffle, Aria began to walk towards the bed.  
"You know, I'm really tired. I think I'm going to go to bed. Night." She said simply, but her tone of voice told Ezra that she was only seconds away from crumbling and completely breaking down. Ezra had been expecting her to crack for weeks, this was the final straw.  
"Aria..."  
"Goodnight." Ezra let out a sigh, opening the freezer to pull out an ice pack, and made his way in her direction, climbing onto the bed to sit beside her. It took a few tries, but he managed to turn her to face him, a small sigh emitting through his lips as he saw her cheek. It looked terrible.  
The usual rosy colouring had gone, and was replaced with a dark shade of purple.  
Ezra whispered his words, setting the ice pack beside him. "I'm sure your Dad'll he back in a moment, apologising for what he did." Both knew that this wouldn't happen, but he hated seeing Aria like this. It killed him on the inside and out.  
Aria's bottom lip began to quiver, a sure sign that the tears were bound to flow, but she managed to hold then in. "Hey..." He whispered soothingly, as he ran a hand along her cheek, causing Aria to let out a small yelp at the pain. He instantly pulled his hand away as the noise slipped through her lips, muttering out continuous apologies.  
"Why did he do it?" Aria whimpered under her breath, feeling her cheek beginning to throb. She couldn't believe how much it stung, the constant pain stopping her from being able to concentrate on anything. Luckily, she managed to hold in her tears, not wanting to come off as weak.  
But then, her Dad had actually hit her... Whacked her straight across the face and knocked her down to the floor. Left her cheek feeling the size of the balloon. She didn't regret standing in the way of Ezra, that's for sure. More damage could've been done if Ezra would've gone for Byron. Shots would've been fired, and Ezra might not have been here right now.  
"I'm sorry, I should've pushed you out of the way, I shouldn't have let you stand in the way of me." He brushed the small locks of hair from her face, careful not to touch her cheek in case he had to hear her yelp again. He couldn't.  
"I wasn't going to stand there and let him hurt you. He had a gun, Ezra." The memory of it all came rushing back, and she turned on her side again, folding her arms across her chest. "I'm going to take a nap, can you turn off the light?" Ezra stared at Aria for a moment, not wanting to push her too far at this point. She was too weak and vulnerable. So instead he nodded, switching off the lights before climbing back towards the bed and taking his seat beside her again.

-  
It took at least an hour, but Aria managed to drop off, her eyes feeling heavy from the tears that were held in. Ezra however refused to sleep, instead running his fingertips through her hair in a soothing manner. Whenever he would accidentally touch her cheek, Aria would stir slightly, wincing in her sleep. It gave him time to think, he supposed.  
The reason Aria had gotten hurt was because of Ezra, because she tried to protect him.  
Maybe a few days away from Ezra would help her. Maybe she could go and stay with Ella, just for a little while whilst Ezra uncovered what the heck was going on. It would keep Aria occupied, to see her family again.  
But then, if Aria wouldn't part from Ezra, they could always go and stay at one of Ezra's mothers houses for a day or two. What was the harm in that?  
It was then that Ezra heard the faint sniffles coming from his girlfriend as she turned and tossed in her sleep. He didn't say anything, he just grasped at her chin, tilting it up to face him as he tried to get her attention. She didn't wake up, instead let out small cries every few seconds, struggling to catch her breath as she sprung up, almost head-butting Ezra straight in the face, he managed to pull back just in time.  
Aria began hyperventilating then, acting completely oblivious to the fact that Ezra was right in front of her, trying to hold down her hands as they wafted in the air.  
"Aria."  
Nothing happened, she just continued to try and suck in breaths.  
In Aria's head, this couldn't of been anyway. She couldn't breathe, couldn't think straight at all. She could barely remember her dream, but what she did remember had panicked her.  
Ezra wasn't with her, she was alone and left with Byron.  
That was enough to terrify her for life.  
"ARIA." He snapped, yelling at his girlfriend to get his attention. The moment her vision came into vision, she jumped at him, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and burying her face in his shoulder. He ignored the pain of her cheek, squeezing his shirt between her fingers as tightly as possible. Ezra said nothing, only wrapped his arms around her and held her close.  
"Don't you ever leave me, don't you dare." Aria said harshly, her grip tightening around him.  
"I'm not going anywhere.." Ezra had barely got his words out, before Aria replied.  
"/Don't./"  
Ezra just nodded, staying silent before he asked Aria a question that he knew wouldn't go down well.  
"I think we should go stay with my mother, just for a day or two." To Ezra's surprise, Aria nodded once, pulling back to glance up at him. "Let me put some ice on that cheek, the swelling will go down."  
"Okay." Aria said in a soft tone, brushing the tears delicately from beneath her eyes. "Okay let's go."


	31. Chapter 31

Strangely, Diane didn't seem to mind that Ezra and Aria were staying with her, she just gave them one rule to stick to. They had to stay in different rooms.  
"But..." Aria argued, as Diane folded her arms across her chest. "How do you expect us to sleep in different rooms?"  
"Ezra's done it for more than twenty years of his life, I think he can do it for a few more.." Diane said harshly, clapping her hands together. "I won't be putting up with funny business in this house."  
Obviously, neither liked this, but it was only a small favour to give back for allowing them to stay after what happened with Ezra.  
They had spent the remaining few hours of their day wandering about the house, freezing awkwardly whenever Ezra's mother would walk past. Aria pretended to ignore her boyfriend whenever he would suggest sleeping, but eventually had to give in.  
"I don't like this..." Aria murmured to Ezra, folding her arms tightly over her chest. "We're two floors away from each other.."  
Ezra took ahold of Aria's hands, intertwining their fingers together.  
Ezra placed a kiss on Aria's cheek whilst she fumbled around with the buttons on his shirt.  
"Just to sleep. I'll be up into your room bright and early for my morning kiss." He began to tug them up the stairs, walking Aria to her room. It was just like Diane to give Aria the creepiest room. "I love you, alright? Now go and get some sleep, you're probably tired. You haven't slept a lot." Instead of arguing, she nodded, leaning up onto her tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips.  
"Nighty night." She murmured, not letting go of his hand until she was fully in the room, closing the door behind her.  
The room was freezing for one, and the sheets didn't offer Aria any kind of warmth either. She laid for at least an hour, shivering beneath the covers of the large bed, her mind of anything Ezra. She missed not being in his arms, not feeling his breath on the back of her neck. She managed to fall asleep, after ages of just laying there in the cold.

Aria flung up in the bed, her forehead covered in sweat as she tried to regain her breathing to normal. Once again, she had had a nightmare, the exact same one as before. She searched for Ezra in the bed, but he wasn't there, he wasn't there to calm her or tell her it was okay, or to hold her in his arms until she fell asleep. She knew that going down to Ezra's room wasn't exactly ideal, and probably something that shouldn't be attempted. Definitely the wrong this to do.  
And then before she knew it, she was walking down the stairs towards o Ezra's room, sneaking past Diane's open door so that she wouldn't be seen.  
"Hold it." A voice said, and Aria automatically froze, turning to see Diane. "What're you doing?"  
"I left my phone charger in Ezra's room, I'm just going to go get it." Aria lied smoothly, hoping that Diane wouldn't pick up on the terrified look on her face. "I'll be straight back upstairs soon." Diane narrowed her eyes at Aria, but nodded anyway, disappearing back into her room.  
"You have five minutes. I'm timing you." Aria rolled her eyes, walking towards Ezra's room to try and push it open, but it was locked. It was then that she noticed the piece of paper on the floor with her name on it, a key taped to the other side.  
"Nicely played..." Aria whispered to herself, unlocking the door to see Ezra fast asleep on the bed. He looked so uncomfortable, his brows constantly furrowed together as he shuffled from one position to the other. She quickly locked the door again, before climbing over to the bed and slipping in behind him, pressing a kiss to his naked shoulder to announce her presence.  
"Hey..." Ezra whispered almost silently, glancing over his shoulder at Aria as she buried her face into his back. "What're you doing in here?"  
"I woke up, bad dream." Aria explained, slipping an arm over Ezra's waist to trace patterns along his stomach. "Your mother told me I have five minutes." Ezra couldn't help but laugh, turning over to face her before pulling the covers over her body.  
"I'll just hide you."  
"Because that'll work." She said with an eye roll, dragging her fingertips down his bare chest. "It was the same dream as last night."  
"You didn't actually tell me what that was about, will you tell me now?" Ezra said in a low tone, not wanting his mother to hear their hushed conversation. Aria shook her head, cuddling up to his chest as she began to brush kisses along his neck.  
"I don't want to go back up into that room. Can I stay here with you?" She wasn't going to wait for a reply, instead just settled down in his bed, only to hear a knock at the door. "Don't answer it..." Ezra let out a sigh, pulling away from his girlfriends embrace to unlock the door.  
"You know what I said..." Diane began, in which Ezra rolled his eyes.  
"She's just had a bad dream, she'll be back up to her room in a minute." Ezra said in a mumble, pulling the door closed a fraction so that she couldn't see into the room.  
Aria stayed completely silent, reluctant to move from the warmth of Ezra's covers. It was comfier in here than hers was, that's for sure. She listened to them mutter for a few moments, before Ezra glanced back at his girlfriend and nodded, holding out his hand to her.  
Aria didn't want to move at all, she was too warm. "Come on." Ezra said in a mutter, continuing to stretch out his hand. He shot her a wink, encouraging her to follow. With a groan, she slipped out of the bed, lacing her fingers with Ezra's, and leaning into his side sleepily. She avoided all eye contact with Diane as Ezra pulled her out of the room, heading down the hallway. "We're going to 'make sure you get to sleep okay.'" He said in a sarcastic tone, rolling his shoulders in a shrug. He rushed them up the stairs as quickly as possible, pulling Aria into her room, pressing his lips to her own once, before nudging her towards the bed. "Sleep."


	32. Chapter 32

"How long do we have?" Aria said quickly, tugging the the shirt over her head to drop on the floor.  
"She's picking up a new dress or something. We have at least half an hour."  
That was enough time.  
Ever since the awkward moment with Aria, Ezra and a reluctant Diane, Ezra and Aria were forced apart. Diane would always be with one of them, meaning the other couldn't get a word in edgewise. Of course, he always snook into her room for an hour each night, before he would be dragged downstairs again.  
"Please, I can do this in ten." Aria teased, furiously unbuttoning the Ezra's shirt, slipping her hands beneath the fabric to roam his chest and chiselled shoulders.  
"Stop being smug and kiss me." Ezra ordered in an almost growl, lifting Aria at the waist to wrap her legs around his waist.  
"Just saying."  
"Keep talking, we won't get it done." Ezra trailed off like a school boy, searching for the zip on her skirt.  
"We will, you'll just have to speed up, a quickie." She said in a teasing tone, her arms wrapping around his neck.  
"Thirty minutes to get a week worth of sex done. Ready?" With a nod, Aria smashed her lips firmly to his own as he pushed her against the wall.

"When're we going back to the apartment, Ezra?" Aria asked quietly, pulling the shirt over her body as she began to redress herself. Ezra was midway through slipping on his jeans, when he spoke.  
"Anytime, I'm just waiting until you give me the all go."  
"The all go?" She asked again, confused by what he meant.  
Ezra let out a sigh. "You've had the same nightmare every night for the past week, it has to be something that you're afraid of."  
Aria's eyes shot up to meet Ezra's then, the words sticking in her mind.  
"I want to go home."  
"We have a family dinner tonight." Aria let out a groan, the thought of having to sit in the same room as Diane for an hour slowly eating her up inside.  
"Can't we just make a break for it and leave?"  
"No..." Ezra began, shaking his head. "She's put up with our childish behaviour for the past week. We're staying for dinner." She folder her arms across her chest. Ezra snatched the skirt from Aria's hands, holding it high in the air whilst his other hand came into contact with her behind. "Hey!" She squealed loudly, placing her hand above his go pry it away. "Behave yourself."  
"Stop being stubborn." He whispered in a teasing tone. "We should do something like that again sometime. Just sneak off for a quickie."  
"We're always doing that, the only difference is that we're sneaking into your apartment."  
"Not for what we just did. Usually we don't have to rush. I like rushing." With a nod, Ezra leant down to roughly kiss Aria, holding the skirt behind him. "So when're we going home?"  
"Sunday?" Aria suggested, gripping Ezra's collar in her hands to tug at it. It was Friday, they had two days of more torture to go.  
"And the first thing we do when we walk through the door?"  
"Shower sex." Aria said simply, holding out her hand to shake. Ezra took it with a wide smirk, nodding his head. Aria's phone began to ring, causing the both of them to pull away from the embrace with a sigh, and Aria moved to get her phone. She didn't read the number ID, Instead just placed it to her ear.  
Ezra followed her around the room, slipping his arms around her waist from behind as he began trailing kisses along her neck. "Hello?"  
"Aria? Is that you?" A familiar voice rung through the phone, and Aria's mood dropped completely to the point that she wanted to disappear. "Aria?"  
"Who is it?" Ezra whispered against Aria's skin, she tried to shrug him off but he was reluctant to move.  
"Dad." Aria mouthed, an aching pain spreading across her cheek. Ezra tried to grab the phone from her, but she managed to keep the phone against her ears. "I really have to go..."  
"No, no you have to listen to me. I didn't mean what I did..."  
"Dad, don't."  
"I was drunk and angry and upse-" Ezra managed to pull the phone out of Aria's grip, hanging up before throwing it down onto the bed.  
"What're you doing?!"  
"Stopping you from feeling sorry for him." Ezra said sternly, pointing a finger at her. "You will not feel sorry for him, I'm not letting you."  
Aria rolled her eyes, still trying to reach for the skirt behind Ezra's back.  
"He was /trying/ to explain."  
"He was trying to make you pity him, so you'd forgive him."  
She let out a scoff, "Not that it's any of your business."  
"Really?! You're being like this now?"  
"He's my Dad!"  
"... Who hit you! Around the face with a /gun!/ That is /not/ usual father behaviour." Aria wasn't in the mood for an argument, Ezra had no right to tell her whether or not she should forgive Byron.  
"How the fuck would you know what that'd be like, Hm? Where's your Dad?"  
"Nice, Aria." Ezra said with a scoff, handing her back her skirt before heading towards the door.  
"You never talk about him, he couldn't of been much better than mine."  
He shook his head in shock, grasping up his phone. "I'm going to go. See you later."  
"He's my Dad, Ezra. I can't just turn my back on him." Aria tried to explain, her voice dropping down to normal again. "You have to understand that."  
"And I'm your boyfriend, I'm here to look after you and make sure that you don't get hurt again."  
Aria knew exactly what to say that could hurt Ezra, but she stayed quiet, the voice of Diane interrupting them as she called up the stairs. Ezra leant forward to press a kiss to her forehead, obviously not wanting to discuss it further. "I'll see you at Dinner."  
And with that, he pulled on his shirt and disappeared out into the hallway.  
Well that was one way to mess up their morning.

The next few hours were spent apart from each other, Aria staying up in her bedroom whilst Ezra sat watching reruns of 90's shows. Not how he wanted to spend his day. He had planned to take Aria out to one of his favourite spots, but the argument made him doubt his decision.  
They had both decided on one thing; Arguing only made things worse for them.  
Aria had also decided that she was going to find out what had happened to Ezra's father.  
Soon, they were both called down to Dinner. Ezra waiting at the bottom of the stairs for Aria, offering her up the biggest smile that he could. She had dressed up, putting on one of her dresses to try and fit in with Diane. It was the dark purple one, His favourite. Ezra, on the other hand had only put on a different shirt, not really caring about what his mother thought. She'd always pick out something wrong with him.  
"Hey..." Aria mumbled, stopping at the end of the staircase. After a moment of silence, Aria grasped Ezra's hand with both of hers, leaning up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek. "Are we okay?"  
"I hope so." Ezra acted unphased by her actions, running a hand through his chestnut locks. It suddenly felt more awkward than it should of. "Dinner?" With a nod, Aria played with the ends of her dress, walking into the room beside he boyfriend.  
It was like heaven in Aria's eyes. Ranges of different foods were laid out on the table, the scents and smells sending her dizzy.  
They took their seats opposite to each other at the table, Diane eyeing them both up as they glanced anywhere but at each other.  
"Everything okay between you two?"  
"Just fine." Aria said enthusiastically, crossing her legs over.  
And then began the awkward silence; No body dared to say a word. There was the occasional glance at each other during their meal. That's when Ezra took a gamble, running his foot along Aria's leg. It made Aria jump, but she managed to act unphased, a small smile playing on her lips. It was a sure sign that they were okay, his way of communicating. She answered by doing the same to him in return, curling her bottom lip between her teeth.  
That's when things sped up, and Ezra began to clear away the plates and cutlery.  
A thought popped into Aria's head, and she waited until Ezra was out of sight before asking it.  
"Diane, where's Ezra's Father?" Aria asked, placing her hands onto her lap. Diane let out a dry laugh, shaking her head as she raised to her feet and exited to the kitchen.  
"It's a touchy subject with Ezra, I advise you not to bring it up. Ezra's Dad isn't around anymore."


	33. Chapter 33

It was Saturday. Ezra's mother had organised for Aria to meet Ezra's family, which neither were to pleased about. Ezra was convinced it was one of Diane's plans to mess things up, but of course he stayed quiet. Aria seemed to act excited about it, which she was-kind of.  
Maybe it was Diane's way of keeping them apart for the remaining days that they were here.  
"Good morning, beautiful." Ezra said in a happy tone, walking into Aria's room and closing the door behind him. He approached her just as she pulled the dress over her head, slipping his arms around her waist and leaning down to kiss her. "Did you sleep okay?"  
Aria nodded, brushing her nose against Ezra's before pulling away from their embrace, and picking up her shoes. "It was okay."  
"The nightmare?" Aria said nothing, a clear sign that Ezra was right. "Hopefully when we get back to the apartment, they'll stop."  
"I hope so, I can't take them anymore." Ezra pushed out his lips, sneaking up behind Aria to run his hands through her hair.  
"I know, you'll be able to get a proper nights sleep tomorrow night."  
"I miss being able to sleep in the same bed as you." With a nod, Ezra pulled away from his girlfriend, allowing her to finish getting herself ready.

-  
It wasn't long before Diane had called them both down the stairs to help set everything up, pushing them both in different directions.  
Aria was still curious as to what happened to Ezra's father, and what was so bad that even Diane couldn't tell Aria. Maybe he was a serial killer, or something like that.  
"Take these out and set them on the long white table." Diane ordered, handing Aria a tray of small snacks. "Then that should be it." Aria did as she was told, walking out towards the acres of land to set down the tray on the table. It was all set out perfectly, with a wide gazebo for all the food to sit under. It was then that people started to crowd in, different members of Ezra's family spreading about the large green.  
Most of them would approach her, introducing themselves and telling them how happy for Ezra they were.  
"It's great to see someone that Ezra's happy with, we've all missed him." Ezra's grandmother said, giving Aria a weak squeeze. "I was so pleased to hear that he'd met someone." All she could do was spread a wide grin, watching the fragile woman in awe.  
"I'm glad I found such an amazing man, he truly is my life." Aria said proudly, brushing the curled lock of hair behind her ear. It was really an honour to be with such a man as Ezra Fitz.  
"Diane tells me that you went to school together, that must be very sweet." Aria forced a smile, nodding once before excusing herself politely, in search of Ezra.  
Unfortunately, she only found more guests introducing themselves, and she felt her head begin to spin. She tried to camouflage herself in the crowd, freezing when she heard a voice.  
"Aria?" She spun around, her eyes landing on Malcolm who waved up at her with a wide grin. He looked the same as he did before, but with shorter hair. The same childish grin.  
"Hey, Malcolm. What're you doing here?"  
"We were invited too! Isn't that great?" Aria nodded with a small smile, as Malcolm latched onto her hand. She glanced around for Ezra, or anyone that could be handed to Malcolm instead of her. "Who're you looking for?"  
"Ezra." Aria said without thinking, continuously glancing around the place. Ezra was no where to be seen.  
"I'll help you find him." Malcolm said enthusiastically, pulling Aria along with him.

-  
Ezra wanted to be anywhere but here. He was currently stood beside his Mother, welcoming the last few of the guests, before Ezra's grandmother approached them, pulling Ezra into a tight hug.  
"Ezra, it's been a while." The small woman said with a grin, glancing at Diane. She walked out with a huff, folding her arms over her chest. "I've just had the pleasure of meeting your girlfriend, Aria. She really is a charm." Ezra couldn't help but spread a wide smile, nodding in agreement.  
"The love of my life." He said without even having to think about it. "I wish my Mother just felt the same way as you did, she's hardly Aria's biggest fan." She let out a small scoff, shaking her head.  
"Just ignore her, she's never liked anyone but herself." Ezra laughed at her words, as she shot him a wink. "I have something to give you." He watched as his elderly grandmother searched through her purse, pulling out a small blue velvet box.  
"What's that?" Ezra asked with a sharply raised brow, shoving his hands into his pockets.  
"It's for your girlfriend, silly. It's the family ring, it was mine, your mothers, and now yours."  
"But, I'm not marrying Aria yet..." Ezra trailed off, as she shook her head, holding it out to him.  
"Take it, and use it when you are marrying her." He tried to refuse, but the old woman wasn't giving in. "Ezra Fitzgerald." She warned, placing it into his hand. "Just in case." And with that she walked off, throwing her bag over her shoulder. Ezra began to make his way up the stairs when he caught sight of Aria and Malcolm outside, and he froze. Maybe he could just put it up the stairs later. He pushed it into his pocket, and made his way outside in search of his girlfriend.  
He spotted her near the end of the wide acres of grass, being dragged here there and everywhere by the small boy in front of her. He was pretty determined to find whatever he was looking for.  
Malcolm spotted him first, and Ezra held up a finger to his to signal the boy to stay quiet about his whereabouts. Malcolm did as told, staying silent until Ezra was right behind Aria, as he scooped her up into his arms.  
"Put me down!" Aria yelled between her fits of laughter, pushing at Ezra's chest as he spun her around, before placing her square on the ground. "You're an idiot." She grumbled, pulling at the ends of her dress to level it again.  
Ezra shot her a teasing glare, interlacing their fingers together. "What were you guys doing?"  
"Looking for you!" Malcolm shouted, flashing Ezra a toothy grin.  
"Hey, Buddy! How're you doing?" He ruffled up Malcolm's hair, receiving a laugh from both Aria and the boy. Ezra had to admit that he missed Malcolm, a great deal. It was strange not having him around anymore.  
"I'm okay, a little hungry." Ezra chuckled, pointing Malcolm in the direction of the food.  
"Why don't I come and find you soon? We can play with your cars." Malcolm nodded, running off in search of some food.  
"Where've you been all day?" Aria groaned out, resting her head on Ezra's shoulder. "I've been looking for you."  
"I had to welcome people with my mother, and then I saw my Grandmother." He said with a nonchalant shrug, slipping an arm around her waist. "How're you holding up?"  
"Your family are amazing, they actually like me, unlike your mother." Ezra couldn't help but laugh, leaning down to brush a kiss along her forehead. Her eyes glanced around at the groups of people, some waving at her as she caught their eye.  
And then her eyes landed on the one person that she didn't want to see. The one person that could ruin this entire day.  
"Is that my Dad?"


	34. Chapter 34

"No, nope, no way. What the hell is he doing here?!" Aria almost screamed out. How did Byron even know where they were?  
"Will you calm down, just act like you haven't seen him." Ezra ordered, dragging her gaze towards him. "Look at me, okay? Just ignore him."  
"Well he isn't here to see your mother, is he?" She said with a scoff, folding her arms over her chest. "Maybe I should do over there..." With that she began walking towards her father, only to be dragged back by Ezra.  
"No." He said sternly, pointing a finger at her. "He is not ruining this."  
"Then what am I supposed to do? Hide from him for the rest of the day? No, Ezra." This time Ezra was too slow, and Aria was storming in the direction of her Father, fists clenched at her sides.  
"Aria, stop." She heard Ezra say from behind her, placing an arm around her waist to whisper in her ear. "There's no point in causing a scene." This stopped Aria. She knew that she wouldn't be able to keep her voice down. This was her chance to yell and scream at her father. Make him feel bad for what he had done. Aria was tired of having to wake up an hour earlier so that she could put four layers of make up on so that no one would see what he had done, whilst trying to make it look like she wasn't wearing any make up at all. Tired of trying to pretend that it hadn't effected her at in the slightest. It had; It had torn her apart inside. Her own father had hit her, and it wasn't an accident. "Dance with me." Ezra continued to speak in whisper, prying her away from Byron. Luckily, he hadn't spotted them yet, and was deep in conversation with Diane. As much as Aria wanted to have it out with Byron, she had to admit it wasn't the best place to do it. She just nodded, spinning in Ezra's arms to face him.  
"Okay."  
Ezra pulled her towards where the quiet music was being played, placing a hand on her waist to intertwine their other hands. Aria blew out a shaky breath, placing a hand on his shoulder.  
"You okay?" Ezra said, picking up on Aria's quietness. She just seemed to stare at nothing, not blinking or moving.  
"No." Aria admitted, moving her head to rest her cheek on his shoulder. "Not really."  
"Do you want to go home?"  
She shrugged, not wanting to talk at all.  
"Just be quiet, for five minutes." Aria said in a soft tone, burying her face in Ezra's shoulder. Ezra obeyed her request, swaying them both back and forth to the music.

-  
Those five minutes turned into a few hours, and even though it was getting dark, barely anyone had left. None had spoken, just stayed in time with the music and swayed along with it, giving each other's hand a reassuring squeeze every now and then.  
"Aria, I've been looking everywhere for you!" Diane said enthusiastically, pulling the two apart. "Your father wants to speak to you."  
"Not now." Ezra said in harsh tone, not allowing their hands to be parted for a second. "Me and Aria are actually going to head home." Aria stayed silent throughout it all, staying as close to Ezra as she possibly could.  
"Byron explained what happened, and I understand why you lost it with him, Aria." Both stared at Diane in complete confused, brows raised. "You know, when she hit him."  
"You have got to be fucking kidding me." Aria spat out, ripping her hand from Ezra's to storm towards her father, and the only thing she saw was red.  
Ezra tried to stop her, only just managing to catch up as she stopped in front of her father.  
"I hit /you?/" She said with a venomous tone, shoving at her fathers chest. "Do you have any idea how much I hate you?"  
Byron tried to mask his hurt, emitting a soft sigh.  
"Aria, you have to let me explain..." He pleaded, trying to act unphased by her words. "I wasn't myself."  
"Spare me the details. You must of been a completely different person for you to hit your daughter in the face."  
"Maybe this isn't the best idea, especially out here." Ezra interrupted, settling a hand on Aria's hip, only for her to shrug it off.  
"Why don't you mind your own business?" Byron spat, glaring at the former teacher before him. "This has nothing to do with you, so back off." Ezra stayed still, folding his arms across his chest. "I said, go." Byron repeated, shoving at Ezra's chest.  
"Stop!" Aria yelled a little too loudly, everyone within a few hundred feet turning around to watch the whole thing. "Leave him alone."  
"This is exactly why I should've done what I was going to do. We could've been past this by now." Aria's brows shot up, curious as to what Byron meant.  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
"You know /exactly/ what I'm talking about. Gotten rid of him right there and then." They seemed to notice the crowd of people staring then, just as Aria raised her hand to slap her father.  
Only, it didn't reach Byron. He managed to grasp Aria's wrist in a tight grip, shaking his head. It's then that Ezra stepped forward, shooting Byron a warning look.  
"Byron, let her go. You're causing a scene." Ezra said in a murmured tone, wanting to keep this between them. "Let. Go. Of. Her." He reluctantly let go, after hearing Aria let out a whimper. Ezra managed to push Aria behind him, making sure that she couldn't pass him. "You should go."  
"Thanks, but this really isn't any of your business." Byron snapped, his right hand connecting with Ezra's jaw.  
Gasps filled the entire place, as Ezra stumbled, before regaining his stance. He launched forward, Aria tugging at him arm.  
"Stop." Ezra did as told, moving to walk away from Byron, until he heard him speak again.  
"Pervert." With that Ezra spun around, punching Byron in the nose. "Now you're going to leave her alone." And then he was pulling Aria away from the scene, ignoring the prying eyes. "We're going home."  
Aria didn't say anything, nodding as she clung tightly to his hand.


	35. Chapter 35

Aria and Ezra had only just been able to excuse themselves from the family event. Everyone had asked them to stay, but they knew that now was the right time to leave. Nobody seemed all that phased by what had happened, only that whatever Byron had done was not forgivable. He walked away with a blood covered nose and a fat lip, only what he deserved.  
Aria felt completely humiliated. She had never felt so embarrassed in her life. How could her father show up and embarrass her like that? In front of everyone, the people that'd actually liked her. She had tried to apologise, but none of the guests would take it. They just gave her a hug or a pat on the back, and said that it didn't matter. It did, to Aria.

They were both packed, bags set at the top of the stairs when Aria noticed the door near the end of the hall was open a fraction.  
"Ezra?" Aria questioned, setting down her bag. "Whose room is that?" Ezra's eyes grew wide as he saw where she was pointing, the panic suddenly rising in him. It was the room that he'd found the videos of Aria.  
"It's... Um... My grandmothers room." Ezra lied terribly; causing Aria's brows to shoot up. She began walking towards the room, Ezra trying to tug her back the best that she could. "Aria, don't go in there. Please." He was pleading her not to open the door, but her curiosity got the better of her.  
"What's so bad?" She teased, pushing the door open and stepping inside. That's when her face dropped.  
The laptop was turned on, just like when Ezra had entered the room several weeks ago, a continuous loop of videos playing. All, of course with the same star-Aria. This one, however was one that Ezra hadn't seen either.  
They seemed to be watching a movie on Ezra's bed, glancing at each other every few seconds with a wide grin. They looked like a young couple, watching something with a bowl of popcorn between them.  
Then it switched, to a different video. All that could be seen was the silhouette of someone in the shower. It was Aria. She was singing quietly to herself, running her fingers through her hair.  
"What is this?" Aria stuttered out, rushing towards the laptop and taking a seat before it. "Who took these?! Was it you?!" Ezra let out a sigh, this was exactly what he didn't want Aria to see. Last time he checked, it was locked. He shook his head, taking a step towards her and the laptop screen.  
"Wesley did." Ezra said quietly, causing Aria's head to whip around.  
No.  
This wasn't what she needed right now.  
Wesley was also a stalker, as well as a psychopath.  
Things were finally beginning to untangle for them, and sort themselves out. And now, she had just stumbled into the heart of their problems.  
"Did you know about this?"  
"No..." Ezra began, shaking his head. "Yes. I found it last time we were here..."  
"And you didn't tell me?!" Aria yelled, grabbing up the laptop and closing it.  
"What was I supposed to say?"  
"You were supposed to tell me that your brother has a personal collections of videos that he took secretly of me." She stopped, turning to face him. "Wait, is this what you found when you saw the book?" Ezra glanced at the floor, curling his bottom lip between his teeth, before nodding once. She scoffed, shoving against his chest. "You're a jerk."  
"I didn't tell you for a reason!"  
She picked up the bag beside it, setting the laptop inside it before throwing it over her shoulder.  
"What're you doing?"  
"What does it look like I'm doing?" She snapped, pushing past Ezra to head towards the stairs. Ezra grasped a hold of her arm, spinning her around to face him.  
"You can't just take that, Aria. Mom will know that it's missing."  
"It's a laptop with videos of me on it, I think I have the right to take it." He didn't both arguing, instead just grasped at her waist and pulled her against him. He raised a hand, brushing it along her cheek; She didn't bother pulling away.  
"Calm down..."  
"Don't tell me to calm down, Ezra. He's been taking videos of me, in the shower!" Her voice rose again, and Ezra placed a finger to her lips.  
"Stop..." He whispered out his words, pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead. "Put it back where you found it." She shook her head no, leaning up on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his lips, before pulling away and heading towards the door.  
"I can't."  
-

The moment Aria and Ezra walked through the door things felt different. Like everything had been lifted. It was crazy, but it was such a relief.  
After a moment of silence, Ezra spoke. "I'm sorry about now telling you. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to be pushed even more into this hole of misery that we have."  
"A hole of misery?" She raised a brow, folding her arms over her chest. "You still should've told me about it. I wouldn't of walked in. You lied to me, Ezra. You didn't tell me!"  
"What're you planning to do with the laptop, Aria?"  
"Watch it, burn it, I'm not sure yet." She rolled her shoulders in a small shrug, throwing the laptop bag down on the couch and pulling it open. She sat beside it, waiting for it to load.

A thought entered Ezra's mind, and a small smirk set on his face, as he stood in front of her on the couch.  
"Stand up." He said, reaching his arms out towards her. She ignored him, searching through the files on the laptop. There were so many, it sent Aria insane. He waited a minute, before lifting her from the sofa without hesitation, her legs instinctively wrapping around his waist.  
"Where are we going?" She groaned, slipping her arms over her chest. She was still mad at him, for lying to her.  
"You're mad?" He asked, pushing open the bathroom door and slipping inside. She stayed silent, glancing away from him. "I wasn't kidding when I made that deal."  
She shook her head in amusement, trying not to let her a smile show.  
"I'm still mad at you, a whole lot." He didn't say anything, instead began tugging at her dress. "I'm not having sex with you."  
"You promised." He argued, stubbornly pushing out his lips. "Pay up."  
She rolled her eyes, lacing her hands into his hair to yank his lips down to her own.


	36. Chapter 36

They'd be at it all night. Not giving themselves a seconds breath before they were continuing. Aria couldn't stop, she was thirsty for this, craving it.  
"Okay, I'm going to get us some coffee." Ezra said after a moment of them kissing, reluctantly dragging his body away from Aria's. She tried to cling on to his neck, but he managed to manoeuvre himself from her arms.  
He pulled on some different trousers and a fresh shirt, just whilst he popped out. They wouldn't be on long.  
"Don't even thing about getting dressed Aria Montgomery." He ordered sternly, grasping her by the legs to drag her to the end of the bed, running his hands up her sides. "I haven't quite finished with you yet." He added a seductive side to his tone, leaning down to brush his lips against hers. She pushed her lips out in a pout, reluctant to let him move.  
"No... Don't leave." Aria grumbled, grabbing Ezra by the collar. "I don't want coffee, I want you." Ezra glanced at the door, sighing as he nodded.  
"Have I just heard correctly, Aria Montgomery has turned down coffee?" He teased, as she sat up on the bed.  
"Good point, go get me my fix."

"I thought so." He teased, pressing A final kiss to her lips.

Ezra managed to get to the coffee shop and back to the apartment in half an hour, setting down the two coffee's on to the table. Aria sat on the bed, folding up the clothes on the floor.  
"Hey!" Ezra said enthusiastically, taking one of the coffees to hold it out to her. She picked up his jeans, as he sat beside her on the bed. She proceeded to fold them over, until something hit the floor, and they both glanced down at the blue velvet box.  
"What's that?" Aria said, after a few minutes of silence. She scooped it up from the floor, her head flying up to hit something, a wince coming from Ezra's lips.  
"Jesus, Aria!" Ezra yelled, his hand shooting up to his nose. She knew exactly what it was, and began to freak out, shoving at his chest, shaking her head.  
"Why?!" She yelled, punching his chest. "No, no, no Ezra. No."  
"Stop hitting me!" He said, pulling his hand away from his nose to see some blood gushing from it. "I haven't done anything."  
"Well that isn't just an empty box is it!" She shoved against his chest once more, pushing him off the bed. "I haven't seen anything, I haven't seen anything!" She kept repeating the words over and over again, jumping up from the bed, where she began to pace back and forth. All of this time Ezra was holding his nose, silently running over the past two minutes.  
"I think you've broken my nose." He grumbled, tilting his head backwards.  
"Stop being such a baby." She spat out, lacing a hand in his hair to tug back his head. It was now that she began to feel guilty for hitting him in the nose. If he hadn't of been in the way, she wouldn't of done it though. "You're going to be fine." With that she went back to her pacing, shaking her head in shock. How could Ezra pull this on her? This was definitely not the right time, obviously. "You're such an idiot! Why would you do this to me? Huh?!" Ezra arched a brow as she stared at him in frustration. He began to laugh, despite the pain in his nose. "Why're you laughing? This isn't funny."  
"I can't take you seriously when you have no clothes on, I'm sorry." He said between laughs, Aria flushing a bright crimson as she glanced down at her naked self, rushing towards the bed to pull Ezra's shirt from the previous day, making sure it was pulled past her behind. He didn't deserve that pleasure. "You really hurt my nose!" He whined, prodding his nose. "Is it bruised?" Aria ignored his question, pushing out her lips in a pout. She moved towards the velvet box, picking it up and shoving it back in his trouser pocket.  
"Walk out, and then come back in. How could you think that /this/ was the right time?! I'm 18!"  
"Will you let me explain? I didn't..-"  
"Nope, no. Don't even try." She continued to babble on for ages, talking to him as if /she/ was the teacher. "Why do we even need to get married?!"  
With that Ezra let out a groan, raising to his feet and walking towards her and grasping ahold of her face.  
"Shut up!" He yelled, causing her to come to an immediate silence. "That ring wasn't going to be given to you, not yet anyway. My grandmother gave me it and-" Aria went to interrupt then, but Ezra placed a finger to her lips. "Let my finish." She didn't answer, only narrowed her eyes at him. "My grandmother gave it to me, to give to you when it was the /right/ time. I'm not marrying you yet!"  
His words caused a pang of guilt to hit Aria, his bruised nose making her feel worse. She should of let him explain. Instead of apologising though, she decided to be stubborn, folding her arms tightly across her chest and moving to sit down on the sofa, staring at the blank television screen.  
"Hey, I told you that I wasn't done with you yet." Ezra said in a serious tone, bobbing his head in the direction of the bed. Aria glanced over her shoulder at her boyfriend, folding one leg over the other and sinking into the couch.  
"I'm done with sex. You don't want to marry me." She said with a huff, playing around with the buttons on her shirt. He emitted a sigh, running a hand down his face. He winced when his hand passed his nose, she really did have a strong head.  
"Stop being so stubborn. You know that I want to marry you. It's why you freaked out."  
"What was I supposed to think? There was a ring in your pocket. I'm only eighteen years old Ezra, definitely not old enough to get married."  
"Do you remember a few weeks ago? The whole pregnancy scare? You didn't freak out over that, and yet you're freaking out over a ring."  
"A ring is commitment. I want to be with you forever, I really do. But things happen, people change when they're married. I don't want that to happen to us." Aria murmured out, as Ezra sighed. He rummaged through his trousers, pulling out the small box and taking a seat beside her.  
"Give me your hand." He said in a gentle tone, pulling the ring from the box as she did as he said. He slipped the ring onto her finger, bringing her hand to his lips so that he could brush a kiss along her knuckles, before speaking. "This is my promise that things will never change between us. My promise that I'm never going to hurt you, or leave you. This is my way of saying that we're forever. It's not an engagement ring. It's a promise ring. My promise." Aria began to feel the heat rising in her cheeks, wondering whether or not she should forget about being stubborn now, and jump into his arms.  
She opted for the second option, crawling into his lap and glancing up at him.  
"I love you." She said, glancing down at the ring. It must've been expensive. Aria began to panic, she'd never be forgiven if she lost it.  
Ezra couldn't help but spread a grin, pressing a kiss to her temple.  
"I love you too." It was then that Aria laid eyes on the laptop bag, and she glanced up at Ezra again, as if she was asking for permission. "It'll upset you."  
"I need to watch them." He let out a soft sigh, nodding once as he scooped up the laptop bag and placed it on her knee. His phone rang, and he placed it to his ear, the voice on the other end being all too familiar.


	37. Chapter 37

He had managed to manoeuvre himself away from Aria, leaving her to watch whatever was on the laptop as he excused himself to step out into the hallway, telling her it was something to do with work.  
"Who is this?" Ezra spat out, this wasn't a funny joke.  
"I need your help, please Ezra." The other line said, the pleading in his tone actually making Ezra feel sorry for the guy.  
"Wesley?"  
"Yes, and you're Ezra. Moving on."  
"Shouldn't you be dead?" Was all he replied, wanting this conversation to be over as quickly as possible. And then it hit him. "Why aren't you dead?! We buried you! Why are you not buried?!"  
"Can I explain later? Right now I need your help." Wesley said in a childish tone, impatiently tapping his foot. Ezra scoffed, the anger burning up inside of him.  
"I'm not up for jokes right now. Whoever this is can just cut it out."  
"I'm not fucking around right now, Ezra. I'm not dead. Go check the coffin. 'Ain't me inside of it."  
"Prove it's you." Ezra challenged, waiting for the person to hang up or go silent.  
Wesley thought for a moment, before saying something only Ezra knew that Wesley would know. "You walked in on Mom cheating on dad with one of your English professors when you were in senior year." He paused, before speaking again. "I also ripped up your first short story." Ezra's eyes grew wide. No one else knew about that but Ezra, and Wes. He had confided in Wesley, asked his advice. This was /not/ happening.  
"That was you?!"  
"Guilty is charged." Wesley admitting in a gentle tone, trying to distract Ezra the best he could. "I need you to pick me up."  
Ezra scoffed, shaking his head. He had planned Wesley's death so many times, and now he was dead Ezra could be at ease. But no, he was alive.  
Fucking brilliant.  
"Why should I help you?!" Ezra still thought that this was one of Wesley's friends, just messing around with him as a sick joke.  
"Because we both know what happened to your girlfriend." Ezra grew silent, knowing that if he clenched his phone any harder it'd snap in two. That sure wasn't the way to get Ezra's help. "So what do you say? Are you in?" Ezra hung up the phone, shoving it into his back pocket and pushing the door back open.  
Aria was preoccupied with the bright screen in front of her, watching each video intently. He let out a sigh, leaning against the door as the last five minutes played in his mind.  
"Everything okay?" Aria asked, glancing up at him through her lashes. She looked so innocent, he wasn't going to tell her this. "Who was that?"  
"Just my mother." He lied smoothly, completely forgetting that he'd told her it was work earlier. She raised an eyebrow, narrowing her eyes at him before just dropping it, and turning back to the laptop. Ezra glanced over her shoulder at the long list of videos on the screen, the familiar feeling rising up in his stomach. "You okay?" He questioned in a soft tone, laying his head upon her shoulder. She didn't glance at him, not once.  
Most of the videos were just the usual, if that was even possible. Just videos of Aria and Wesley lounging around the apartment, eating junk food, watching reruns of reality TV.  
And then it went to the next video, one that Ezra had already seen. It was the one of her sleeping. But this time, she looked less peaceful. He eyebrows where furrowed together, her head thrashing from side to side as her toes curled up, until she sunk back into the bed. "Are you doing what I think you're doing?" Ezra questioned in a low tone, glancing up at a dark crimson Aria. Ezra began to laugh, shaking his head in amusement at his girlfriend.  
"Shut up!" She said sternly, folding her arms across her chest. "You weren't there, what was I supposed to do?" She tried to explain, skipping ahead to the next video as she knew it didn't end there. That was the last thing she needed, to be teased. He pressed a kiss to her shoulder, brushing her hair away from it.  
"I was only on the other side of the phone, you could've called."  
"I'm not going into this with you now." Aria said, Ezra talking was distracting her from watching the videos. She had a plan, one that Ezra couldn't know about. She needed to concentrate. "Shh!" He grew silent, watching the video with her.  
It was then that it came to mind. Where was the camera now? What had happened to it? Had Wesley taken it? "You should go into work tomorrow, get back into your routine."  
Ezra raised a brow, ignoring the buzzing coming from his back pocket. It brought Ezra back from his thoughts, not really wanting to go back to Rosewood.  
"I don't want to..." He began, but Aria held up a hand.  
"You're going. You love your job." She leant against his chest, pausing the video to glance over her shoulder at him. "I love you, but there's only so much Ezra I can take." Her tone was teasing, as he let out a light chuckle. It's not that he hated his job, he just didn't want to leave her alone again.  
"Why don't you give one of your friends a call, they can stop by tomorrow whilst I'm at work." Aria thought for a moment. Spencer definitely wouldn't show up. Emily or Hanna; She really couldn't deal with Hanna moping over Caleb leaving. So she nodded, and grasped up her phone, placing it against her ear as she dialled Emily's number.

-  
Emily had agreed to stay at Ezra's with Emily, whilst Ezra went back to Rosewood. Ezra trusted Emily, she was mature and would call him if anything was to happen. But as excited about work Ezra was, part of him was reluctant to leave Aria's side again. He had refused to let her out of his sight in a week, why risk it now? Why put Aria out in the open for anyone to mess with? She was still vulnerable, and as much as she tried to put up the strong front; Ezra could see straight through it. For example, Ezra knew that Aria had picked up on his lie earlier when he had said that his mother had called. No one would've seen it, but Ezra knew.  
He wanted to tell Aria about the previous conversation with his -not so dead- brother, but even Ezra didn't want to remember it. Wesley was supposed to be /gone./  
Not calling Ezra to ask for help. Whoever had killed him hadn't done a very good job at all.  
Unless this was all some big scheme, and Wesley was the person after Ezra's girlfriend.  
He knew one thing; Ezra couldn't trust anyone.


	38. Chapter 38

Ezra was gone by 7am, he had a meeting with the principle. He left Aria a note, informing her that he loved her and that he'd be calling her during lunch to make sure that she was okay.  
Aria woke up to the sound of knocking, stubbornly turning away from the door to curl up on Ezra's side of the bed. At first, she was just going to leave it and go back to sleep, before she remembered that it was Emily.  
"Will you open the door?" Emily said through laughs, knocking again. "I brought coffee and cupcakes!" She sounded too enthusiastic for Aria at nine AM. Aria had successfully managed to watch all of the videos, even the ones that Aria would prefer didn't exist. She slept at three am, after adding a password to the laptop and switched it off, slipping into bed beside her sleepy boyfriend. He looked so peaceful sleeping, all cuddled up on his side of the bed, chest moving up and down as he took deep breaths. Aria felt sorry for him, pitied him for being dragged into all of this. Wes was still his brother, and Aria had taken away all of the memories that he had, his childhood. He acted like he didn't care, but somewhere, he had to. It was impossible for him not to care.  
The phone call that he had yesterday intrigued his girlfriend a great deal. Who had been so bad that Aria couldn't know.? Jackie? Spencer? Maggie? Maybe it was work, or his mother. Maybe he had been confused and got it mixed up.

With a shrug, she dragged herself out of Ezra's bed, tugging at the shirt as she walked towards the door, and pulled it open.  
"Morning, Sleepyhead." Emily announced, moving past Aria to set down the bag of cupcakes and two coffees. As soon as she had placed it down, Emily pulled Aria into a tight hug, Aria responding lazily. Aria had missed her friends, being stuck in the apartment or by Ezra's side was slowly sending her insane. It was like she had no freedom anymore. Obviously she loved Ezra, and wouldn't rather be anywhere else but he was too protective.  
"I've missed you, Em. All of you."  
"We've all missed you! Where've you been?" Emily asked, giving Aria another tight squeeze before pulling back.  
"I've been..." She paused, wondering whether or not to tell Emily about her business. Better to keep her out of it, right? "Just busy, doing some stuff with Ezra."  
"What kind of 'Stuff?'" Emily questioned teasingly, giving Aria a nudge. "Getting frisky with Fitz, huh?" Aria let out a laugh, rolling her shoulders in a nonchalant shrug before placing a finger to her lips, and taking a cup of coffee.  
"How's college hunting?"  
"I'm taking a year off."  
Emily spoke, her mouth agape. "What? Does Ezra know about that?" Aria shook her head no, plopping down onto the small couch before shrugging. "Aria..."  
"I haven't told him yet, for a reason. I'll just tell him later during the year."  
"What? In September, when your bags are packed?" Aria scoffed, sipping at her coffee with a childish expression.  
"Next subject."  
Emily let out a sigh, instead bringing up a more uplifting subject.  
"How's your dad?"  
"We're not exactly on talking terms right now."  
Emily's brows shot up, and she waited a moment prior to beginning to speak.  
"Start from the beginning."

In the few hours that Ezra was at work, Aria had blurted out everything, telling Emily every little detail about what had been going on in the past few months, including what happened with her father.  
"Oh... Why didn't you call one of us? A's back!" Emily said in frustration, rubbing her temples as she tried to get her head around all this. She was slightly mad at Aria for not telling her or Hanna and Spencer about this earlier. They were so close before.  
Aria sighed, running a hand through her chestnut locks. "It isn't -A, Em. I don't know who it is." She shrugged, placing down her empty coffee cup. "I think it's something to do with Wesley's past, moved on to his brother."  
It was then that Ezra strolled in, throwing down his bag as he turned to face the girls.  
"Hey, Mr Fitz." Emily said with a wide grin, raising her hand in a wave. Ezra chuckled, returning the wave.  
"You can call him Ezra now." Aria joked, as Ezra leaned down to capture Aria's lips in his own. "Good day at work?" He only nodded, collapsing beside her on the couch. He looked overly tired, his eyes drifting shut every few minutes.  
"I should probably get back." Emily said suddenly, leaning forward to pull Aria into a tight hug. "Give me a call anytime, we have to do this again."  
"Tomorrow?"  
"Sounds like a plan!" Emily picked up the untouched cupcakes, stopping before she reached the door. "I'm eating these."  
"See you later, Em." She said with an eye roll, waving until Emily was gone. Aria then turned to Ezra, who was snoring quietly to himself beside her. She couldn't help but smile, reaching over him to loosen his tie and undo his top button, raising to her feet to find a blanket. She located one beside the bed, placing it over him as she took her seat again, absentmindedly playing with the stray hairs at the front of his head. It was a way to soothe him whilst he slept, a comfort for both of them.

-  
The masked figure sat by their laptop, watching the entire event from start to finish, a wicked smirk upon their features as they swirled the glass of vodka in their hand, downing the rest of the substance in one go.  
It really was a bonus that Wesley left the camera in the apartment.


	39. Chapter 39

Aria had slept alone. Ezra didn't awake after falling asleep early the previous day, and had slept most of their Saturday morning. Aria hadn't blamed him, of course he was tired. Ezra had three jobs.

One; Teaching at Rosewood,

Two; Making sure no one found out about them.

And three; Keeping his girlfriend, and the love of his life safe from harm

He had to admit, it put him under a lot of pressure. If anyone was to find out that Aria was with Ezra, and had been since labour day almost three years ago, then he'd lose all three jobs. Aria would be at risk, and he'd be jobless and he's lose the love of his life.

Like a twenty sex year old should have to go through that, whilst keeping a tough build. He couldn't crumble, yet he wanted to just sleep it all away. He was exhausted.

"Hey, Sleepyhead." Aria giggled into his ear as he tossed and turned beneath the blanket, leaning over the back of the sofa. "It's noon," Aria had phoned Emily just a few minutes earlier, organising a lunch for her, Emily and Hanna on Monday. Emily had asked Spencer, but of course had no reply. Spencer hadn't tried to contact Aria, so she didn't bother her anymore.

Ezra groaned, shaking his head as his eyes stayed closed. He didn't want to move. He wanted to sleep for months. He dropped down to lie on the couch, curling up under the blanket.

Aria nudged him, prodding at his back as he tried to get back to sleep again.

"Hey, Ezra guess what?" Aria said deviously, an idea coming to mind as she leaned far enough over the sofa to whisper into his ear. "Not wearing underwear." Ezra groaned again, his eyes flinging open. "And you left me all alone this morning..." She trailed off. None of it was true of course, she was in fact wearing one of his long shirts and some jeans, but he didn't know that. "Couldn't you hear me moaning out your name, moving my hand faster... and faster as I just... Let go, releasing all over your sheets." Ezra shot up then nearly falling from the couch as he looked her up and down, his eyes narrowing.

"You tricked me..." He spat out sleepily, folding his arms across his chest. Aria just laughed, nodding in satisfaction as her eyes dropped to the bulge beneath his trousers.

"Now, now. The first bit may have been a lie, but the second bit? You'll never know." Aria teased, leaning up on her tip-toes to brush a kiss along his lips as he made his way towards her, yawning lightly.

"Why did you wake me?" He questioned, feeling more tired than he did the previous day. "I'm so tired..."

"Ezra, you've been asleep for more than eighteen hours, I began to worry." With that, Aria began fixing Ezra's hair, moving towards the kitchen quickly. "Hungry?"

Ezra smiled slightly, still feeling lightheaded from his sleep. "Starving." Aria was about to ask him what he would like, when his phone buzzed on the table, and he scooped it up quickly, sudden realisation hitting him as he read the caller ID. "I have to take this." Ezra muttered, heading off into the bathroom as quickly as possible. The moment he was out of earshot, he spoke, his tone harsh and cold. "I told you, no!"

"Good to hear your voice too, brother." Wesley returned with a cold chuckle, wanting to keep it short and sweet. "I've called you nineteen times since yesterday, what did your phone die or something?" Obviously.

"No, I just didn't want to talk to you." Ezra knew his voice was becoming too loud, Aria would hear soon. So he took a deep inhale of breath, looking at himself in the mirror before him. He looked a mess. "Wesley, I hate you. You cant expect me to just come running after what you did to my girlfriend. I won't."

"What happened to 'Families always stick together, Ez?" Wesley knew that he was getting to his brother, it wouldn't take him long to cave.

"We never had a family, Wesley. We were just plain fucked up." Ezra rolled his eyes, as he heard a knock on the bathroom door.

"Ezra? Is everything alright?" Aria asked innocently, pulling open the bathroom door. "Who's on the phone?"

"It's my mother again, she's asking about Wes." Ezra said without any expression, moving to press a kiss to her lips. She smiled softly, stepping out of the doorway.

"Okay, I'll make us some coffee?"

"Sounds great." Ezra could hear Wesley mumbling to him on the other end of the phone, but only caught on to the last few words.

"Oh, and Ezra? A fact here. Aria loves it when you bite on her neck." With that, Wesley hung up the phone, laughing to himself.

"He's dead, He's dead." Ezra muttered to himself as Aria scrolled through her phone across the room, rubbing his temples in a circular motion. "Still asleep."

"Are you talking to yourself?" Aria questioned, trying her absolute hardest not to laugh. "They say that's a sign of insanity."

Ezra laughed the brightest that he could glancing over his shoulder at her. "It is a good job that you are here then, isn't it? To keep me sane." He paused, deciding the best way to get his mind of things was to stay busy. "Can we go to Phili tonight?"

Aria arched a brow, tilting her head a fraction to the side. Something was bothering him, and she wanted to know what. "Why?"

"We haven't been out in a while. Let's just go to Phili and get back to normal." As much as Aria wanted to say no, the pleading in his eyes almost hypnotized her, and she nodded, moving towards her bag of fresh clothes. "Just give me a little while?"

Aria's phone bleeped then, and guessing it was Hanna, she scooped it up, her heart beginning to race.


	40. Chapter 40

Surprisingly, Phili wasn't all that busy. It was a Saturday, so people were sat indoors playing computer games, and watching movies they'd seen a hundred times. Ezra was being off with Aria, a sure sign that something was up. Of course, Aria hadn't bothered to ask but it was something, and Aria wanted to know what it was. He had tried to be as civil as possible, without accidentally spilling everything to her like usual.

The text was still fresh in Aria's mind, running over and over again until her head began to spin.

Don't get used to Ezra being around to protect you; he won't be your knight in shining armour for much longer- Wesley.

It was short and sweet, but scared the living crap out of her. At first, it was something that she could laugh about, one of her friends playing around. Now? She just wanted to put the past behind her, and forget about Wesley, about Byron. About it all and just move on. How was she supposed to do that if someone was still pranking her?

Exactly.

Looks like Aria was set up for eternal misery.

"What're you thinking about?" Ezra suddenly blurted out, placing a hand on her knee as he finally parked the car, deciding it would be best to act himself. Being mad at someone that Aria thought was dead wouldn't be the right way to go about it. "You haven't said a single word the entire way here." Aria shrugged her shoulders with a frown, staying completely silent about the matter. He wasn't getting into her that easily. "Com e on..." Ezra said, flashing Aria the most innocent look that he could, pushing his lips out in an adorable pout. It was one look that Aria just couldn't ever resist.

"I got a text message..." She trailed off, picking her phone up from the dashboard to hold it out to him, sinking back into her seat. Ezra read through the message, knuckles turning white from how hard he was gripping the phone after reading it. "It's probably Noel again."

"Yeah, Noel." Ezra stuttered out after a few moments, instantly regretting lying to her. He should've told her right then and there, but he didn't. Instead he went for the easier option, not hurting her. But then, now he was hurting her in a different way by lying.

After a few moments of sitting in silence, they both slipped from the car, meeting each other on the path.

"I vote pizza." Ezra said with a chuckle, slipping an arm around her petite waist. Aria immediately leant into his side, staying as close as possible to her older boyfriend. Now, they didn't have to worry that much about being seen. Aria was eighteen, and no longer went to Rosewood. It wasn't illegal, or wrong in the eyes of the law.

They had decided on a small restaurant in the centre of town, a hole in the wall. It was an Italian place, both had visited before. After taking their seats, a young waitress came to stand before them, grinning down charmingly at Ezra. Ezra nodded in her direction once, glancing at Aria as she glared at the young glare.

"What can I get for you two this evening?" The waitress asked, introducing herself as Ally. Ezra ordered first, Aria asking for the same. One thing that Ezra loved was when Aria would get jealous. It wasn't very often that they were out in public, so he rarely got to see this side to her. He ran his foot up her leg to remove her attention from Ally, shaking his head sternly.

"Stop." He mouthed, shaking his head in amusement.

She just shrugged, trying to kick his foot away, but he wasn't moving. The feeling sent pleasurable shivers through her body, her mind now moving to something else.

Ally excused herself to deliver the order to the chef, Ezra letting out a low chuckle. "You get jealous so easily. Did you see her? She was fourteen, at the most."

"Not like you don't like younger girls." Aria said nonchalantly, not knowing whether she meant that, or whether she was just teasing him. Either way, it was true.

Correction, Ezra didn't like jealous Aria.

"Sorry."

"Forget it." Ezra shrugged, impatiently tapping his foot.

The meals came quite quickly, and they were soon eating in dead silence, occasionally glancing up at each other to smile a fraction, before looking down again. After a while, Aria had had enough, and she reached over the table, not giving him any time to react before she brushed her lips against his, instantly tasting the spaghetti in his mouth, the young waitress burning holes into the back of Aria's head with her intense stares.

"What was that for?" Ezra asked after swallowing his food. Aria ran her tongue over her bottom lip.

"Not talking to me. It was me saying sorry." She paused, glancing down at his empty plate. "I'm ready to go."

Even though she didn't say it, Ezra knew what she meant. He ordered for the bill, leaving Ally a tip despite Aria's attempts to stop him, before pulling Aria from the restaurant in a hurry.

Aria lead him down the road, practically bouncing in excitement as she clung to his arm, her mood instantly changing the moment she was away from the restaurant.

"Car's on that side." Ezra muttered, as Aria began to walk across the road quickly.

That's when it happened, all too quickly.


	41. Chapter 41

The jet black car came speeding around the corner, almost out of nowhere. The tinted windows camouflaged the driver, but a silhouette could still be seen through the glass as they sped towards Aria Montgomery. There was no going back now.  
Aria didn't see it coming.  
She released Ezra's hand to cross the road, stopping in the middle of it to spin around and wait for him. That's when the car picked up speed, and all that could be heard was the cry of Ezra, and the scream of his one true love as I hit her, and Aria flew over the hood of the car, everything going in slow motion.  
He was completely frozen as he watched her roll along the hood of the car until she hit the floor again, laying still for a moment in a crumpled pile. Her life had practically flashed before her eyes.  
Meeting Ezra at the bar, sneaking around with him, there first time having sex. And then a baby, out of nowhere came to mind, whimpering and gripping for something in Ezra's arms, whilst Aria looked over his shoulder. Obviously, it was all over to quickly and she was soon left with the pain that the car had caused, an unbearable yell came from her lips. After finally getting his feet to work, Ezra was there in seconds, dropping beside her to look her over.  
"Where does it hurt?!" He stuttered out urgently, becoming more and more panicked about it all. He frantically looked over every inch of her, small sobs slipping through his lips every now and then when it all got too much.  
"Ezra." Aria said softly, taking him by the chin to look her in the eye. "It's just my leg, I'm fine." The guy nodded, mentally slapping himself for being so fussy. But then, his girlfriend had just been hit by a car, one that had no plans on stopping for the world. It certainly wasn't an accident, that was for sure. "Just call someone." Ezra was surprised by how cool about this Aria was being, but he could see that it was killing her. Legs didn't look that way usually. It was at a funny angle, and it obviously caused her pain. Ezra pulled his phone out, scrolling past the many missed calls from Wesley.  
"Hello? Yes, I need an ambulance."

"Hey, I love you." Aria laughed, repeating it over and over again. As amusing as it was, it was serious. They had Aria hyped up on all kinds of medication to block out the pain of her leg, before it could be properly fixed. "Psssst, Ezra. I love you."  
"I know you do." Ezra said for the hundredth time, texting Ella to inform her of the incident. "I love you too."Aria pushed out her lips in a pout at Ezra's dry tone, folding her arms across her chest. He sighed, leaning over her bed to press his lips to hers. "Better?"  
"I want to go homeeee." She whined after a moment. This Aria was so much better than the stubborn one he would've been getting around this time. It was one am, and all Ezra wanted to do was sleep. So did Aria, she just didn't know it yet. "Can we go home?"  
"No, we can't."  
After a moment of Aria groaning, she stretched out her arms towards him, making grabby hands. "Cuddles." It was more of a demand than a question. "Hurry up." Ezra rolled his eyes, setting down his phone to gently nudge her along the hospital bed, slipping in beside her. "Mm, cuddles."  
Ella arrived before they knew it, storming into the room with a frustrated sigh.  
"Trust them to put her on the top floor!" She muttered, almost to herself. Aria was fast sleep, with Ezra watching her intently. He placed a finger to his lips, signalling that she should stay quiet. "What happened?"  
"She was crossing the road. Some car hit her and drove off." Ella scoffed, shaking her head in disgust.  
"Assholes." Ezra was happy with how Ezra was towards him. She didn't hate him, so she would always make the effort to talk to him if he was around. "Has she been asleep long?"  
"Ten minutes, not long. She's high on medication." For once, Ella laughed lightly, taking a seat beside the bed.  
"Byron sends his best." Ezra didn't answer Ella, he only nodded once, pressing a kiss to Aria's hair. "He's sorry, you know."  
"Aria's never going to forgive him."  
"I know."  
"Neither will I." Ezra added, glancing down at his girlfriend who slept peacefully. That's what drugs did to you. "He was out of order. She's scarred."  
Ella sighed, shuffling uncomfortably in her chair.  
"He didn't mean to push her."  
Ezra's brows shot up then, and he glanced up at her with a shake of his head.  
"What? No. Byron hit Aria."  
Ella's eyes grew wide, her jaw dropping a fraction. That's no what Byron had said.  
"Byron wouldn't do that."  
"Well he did, trying to shoot /me./"  
She sunk back into her seat, sighing as she shook her head furiously. She was going to kill Byron. "And then he turned up at my mothers, and started there too. You know, I knew he hated me. But he's killed his daughter inside."  
Those words were enough to piss any mother off.  
"You're good for my daughter, you know. She really does love you."  
Ezra couldn't help but smile at her words, proud that he was the person to make Aria happy. "I love her too, I'd do anything for her."

Aria awoke to no one but her mother at her side, her brows furrowing in confusing.  
Ezra wouldn't just leave her.  
"Has Ezra gone to get some coffee?" Aria questioned sleepily, hugging his jacket close to her chest. It smelled just like him. He wouldn't of gone anywhere without it.  
How was Ella supposed to tell her what had happened.  
"Ezra's at the police station. He's been charged with the murder of Wesley. "


	42. Chapter 42

And thats when Aria's world came crushing down in an instant.

It wasn't Ezra.

It couldn't be Ezra.

It /wasn't/ Ezra.

Aria instantly shot up in the bed, ignoring the excruciating pain shooting up her leg. She pulled Ezra's jacket on without thinking, moving to hop from the bed when Ella placed a hand on Aria's shoulder, pushing her back down gently.

"Stop." Ella murmured, but Aria kept pushing, trying to get out of the bed and down to the police station. She had to stick up for the man she loved, of course he wouldn't hurt his brother. It was insane! Aria couldn't believe that they had just dragged him away! How? Ezra was with his girlfriend, who had just been hit by a car; the driver who happened to want to kill her! What kind of person thinks its okay to take him away? "Aria. STOP!" Ella yelled, Aria breaking into tears there and then. She brought her hands to her face, sobbing furiously into her hands. She needed Ezra, and now he was a so called murderer.

"I need him!" Aria cried into her hands, shaking her head furiously. She wouldn't think about that, she couldn't think about being without him. No, she wouldn't. "I can't live without him, Mom! He didn't do it! I know he didn't!"

Ella stayed quiet, unsure how to comfort her heartbroken daughter. At least Aria didn't see him leave. The way he went; Left Ella curious. Instead of fighting against them, yelling and screaming. He did exactly the same as what he did with Ella; Signalled for them to be quiet, and pressed a kiss to Aria's head, willingly leaving without a fuss. What innocent man would do that? "How do you know?"

Aria thought in silence for a moment, the only four words running through her mind slipping out before she could stop it out. "Because, it was me." Aria said in a whisper, hugging Ezra's jacket closed to her body. Her mother saw right through her lies, but Aria kept saying it over and over again, continuing to shake her head.

"Aria, think about what you're saying..."

"I'm saying I did it! It was me, not Ezra! I need to tell someone!"

The older brunette shook her head with a sigh, her daughters sudden outburst causing her to immediately panic. If someone was to overhear and call in a nurse, Aria would be down in the station quicker than she could yell STOP! "Be quiet!" Aria grew quiet, silent tears rolling down along her cheeks as she tried to convince herself to stop. But she couldn't, there was no going back now. Once you tell one lie, you have to tell hundreds of others to back up the first lie you told, until you're so far in that you cant get out. You're stuck in the web of lies.

Ezra had been sat in this stinking cell for at least an hour. It smelt like a mixture of toilet and egg, never a good combination at all. Aria would be panicking by now, he knew that much, shouting and screaming at her mother for some kind of assistance getting down here. You cant drive with a broken leg. Maybe leaving whilst she was asleep wasn't the best idea.

One thing he did know was that he most definitely didn't kill Wesley Fitzgerald. As much as he hated his brother right now, he wasn't going to kill him. Giving up his life to get revenge wasn't Ezra's style, he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Aria. Have small Fitz' running around the apartment, a ring on her finger. The thought of not being able to do that... it sent him completely insane.

He then felt suddenly sick. Reeling over how he'd be able to cope without her with him, without her in his arms. Without her breath in the crook of his neck whilst she slept. Without her wandering around in one of his shirts. That wouldn't happen again.

Of course, he hadn't been charged with anything yet. Nobody had actually come in and told him that he was going to prison. But with all of the evidence, Ezra knew. How would It look to a bunch of officers that had no idea who he was.

Constant rivalry.

Violent and threatening text messages.

A girlfriend who was sexually assaulted by the guy.

The odds were hardly in Ezra's favour, were they? He was going to jail for this, and he knew it.

Now by the time the hooded figure had arrived back from the police station with the evidence to ruin the mans life, they settled down in the back of the comforter, pulling open their laptop. After a moment, they pulled the phone from underneath the couch, scrolling along the rather short contacts list until Aria's name popped up.

Now, were they to send a message? Or would another hit with a car be a better message than a virtual one? Nah, a message would get their point across, and Aria would already be freaking out, about the love of her life being sent to jail for a crime that he didn't commit.

Because once Ezra was out of the way properly, they could move in on the target, and he couldn't be there to save her this time.

This person obviously had no care for Ezra, that's pointless.

Why hurt the person who hurt you when you could just hurt what means the most to them.

They wanted revenge.

And killing Aria was the way to do it.


	43. Chapter 43

She knew what had to be done, knew what would have to be said to set the love of her life free.  
Ella's phone ringing broke the awkward silence between the after a long, excruciating hour of no one speaking of moving. She placed it to her ear, a small, sympathetic smile on her lips.  
"It's Ezra." Ella said in a mumble, holding the phone out to Aria, which she took immediately.  
"Ezra?" She whimpered out, trying her absolute hardest not to try. She heard Ezra's voice crack as he spoke, not wanting to show any emotion in his tone; It was too hard to do.  
"Hey, baby." It was very rare that they would call each other by pet names, but Ezra wanted to break this to Aria as gently as he could. "Did you sleep okay?"  
"Mhm." Was all he got in return. He knew what she was doing, knew that it wouldn't take long for her to break down. "You left me."  
"I know, I know I did. I shouldn't of just left you sleeping." He didn't regret it. It was easier that way. "They think I killed him."  
"You didn't."  
"I know that I didn't, most people know that I didn't. But obviously they have evidence from somewhere." Ezra glanced at the time, knowing that he wouldn't have long.  
"I'm sure I can call Mrs Hastings. She's a good lawyer!" Aria started to ramble on then, going on about how it would be easy.  
"I need you to listen to me!" Ezra said suddenly, silencing Aria. "I need you to promise me something."  
"What is it?"  
"Don't wait for me, go and find someone else. Someone better, someone your own age. Don't spend years waiting patiently for me to get out of here, because we both know this isn't going to end well." Aria's stomach dropped there and then, his words hitting her like a ton of bricks. How could she move on? How could Ezra, the love of her freaking life, just ask her to do that? She was getting him out of there.  
"Please don't say that, it's like you're not coming home. You are."  
There was a deadly silent, a sigh being released from the other side of the phone. "No, I'm not."  
"You are, you're coming home. To me."  
"Aria..."  
"Stop it." Aria pleaded, her mothers heart melting at her words. "You are. We're going to go home. We haven't bought a new apartment yet, or gotten married. We haven't started a family yet. Little Fitz', running around all day. We need to do that." There was nothing sarcastic about her tone, she was being completely serious.  
"Maybe we're not supposed to have that happy ending." With a shake her head, Aria finally began to cry, tears rolling from her eyes.  
After a few mutters, she heard Ezra groan, sniffling to himself as he said his final words.  
"I love you."  
"No, no don't leave me." Aria said through sobs, not even bothering to brush the tears from her cheeks. "Please don't leave me."  
The line went dead, along with Aria's entire life.

Ezra completed Aria, he knew that much. Both of them together, it was something that couldn't be broken. It was true love, fate and all that.  
Obviously this was their time to break apart, before the real heartbreak happened. No, how could he think that? It was absurd! He liked to think that maybe, just maybe he would get the hell out of this place, but with all the evidence that was shoved into his face, it was highly unlikely. Jealousy, they had called it. Jealousy that his brother and girlfriend had been spending time together. Thankfully, they only knew Aria to be Ezra's girlfriend as of the end of her school education, so that was a bonus.  
It was strange, thinking about what his life without her would be like. The sound of her pleas as she begged him not to hang up, but he had no choice in the matter. It was either place down the call, or be killed a little more inside. They hadn't spent their life together yet.

The door swinging broke Ezra from his thoughts, his brows shooting up.  
"Fitz, you're free to go. Apparently someone else stepped forward and took the blame." One of the officers said. He hadn't been all too kind to the guy, Ezra had considered suing.  
With a small smile on his lips, the officer stepped aside, letting Ezra pass him with a grunt.  
He was /finally/ going to surprise Aria, walk into her hospital room with a bouquet of flowers. He could see it now, the wide spread grin on her face, as he pressed his lips to her own, muttering out 'I love You's' over and over again.  
That's when he caught sight of her walking past him, and he froze. It was most certainly her, limping with the bandage on her leg.  
"Aria?" Ezra questioned, but she refused to look at him. She refused to see his face, not so upset. Not for the last time. "Aria!" He yelled a little louder, as two tall women placed the handcuffs on her wrist, and it all made sense.  
No.  
Oh gosh, no.  
She wouldn't.  
Ezra charged forward then, trying to get to his girlfriend but she just kept walking, several police officers popping out of nowhere to restrain him.  
"No, stop it! It wasn't her!" Ezra shouted at the top of his voice, tears blurring his vision. "She's trying to protect me! Stop!" Nobody stopped, the women kept leading her away, the officers kept holding him back. "Please!"  
Aria turned to glance over her shoulder at him, her eyes red with tears. She mouthed out something only Ezra would understand. An I Love You. It was enough to make Ezra lose it completely. She was doing this for him. "Please don't take her away from me!" He cried out between small sobs of terror, not wanting his girl to be ripped away from him. "I need her!"  
Ezra finally broke free, only to see the doors to the prison being slammed in his face, and he dropped to his knees in an instant, a hand coming to rest on his shoulder after what felt like a second.  
He glanced up, to see Ella in the same state as him, sobbing furiously.  
"She didn't do it."


	44. Chapter 44

It was one of the smartest and dumbest things that Aria had ever done.  
On one hand, she had just saved the love of her life from a jail sentence.  
On the other hand, she had taken herself away from him.  
Listening to Ezra cry out for her as she was dragged away, made her want to go back and reverse everything. He had to be /restrained/.  
The pleas and yells, melted her inside and out. They needed each other.

It'd starter two hours earlier, when Aria had convinced Ella to drive her to the police station.  
"It was me." Aria had begun, playing around with her fingers nervously. "I didn't mean it."  
The elderly woman sighed, running a hand through her curls. She thought that this was over.  
"Wes and I were pretty close, actually. At first. We would always be messing around, joking." She laughed dryly. "And then, then came that night. We were sat in my boyfriends apartment, and then he just tried it on with me. I tried to push him away." Aria had to stop, the thought of it all becoming too much. "But he just kept /pushing/, pinning me down, he wouldn't let go. Just kissing me, forcing me to let him. I tried so hard to stop him, tried to push him away." The woman's brows shot up, no one had ever told her this. "He forced off my clothes, that's when he did it. I couldn't stop him." A single tear rolled down her cheeks at just the thought of it, a small, shaky intake of breath coming from her lips. "I reached my hand out, and managed to grip onto the light. I hit him across the head with it, only hard enough to knock him from above me. The cushion was right here, right beside me. I just wanted to defend myself against him, I wanted him to stop. She fumbled around with her hands again, her lower lip locking between her teeth. It was an obvious sign of her lying, Ezra would always pick up on it.  
Ezra.  
She needed him.  
Now.

Ezra was currently sat in the corner of the couch in the Montgomery house, his head in his hands as he continued to let out small sniffles. He was done being emotional, for now anyway.  
How could she have done something so... Stupid. Idiotic. Selfish. She was taking herself away from him forever. No, he wouldn't accept it.  
"Can I get you anything?" Ella murmured quietly, placing her own glass of water down on the table. Ezra shook his head no, running a hand along his brown locks. "You should eat something, I bet they didn't feed you very well."  
Aria's mother didn't know how she felt at the moment.  
Terrified,  
Crushed,  
Broken.  
But Ezra, he wasn't afraid to show how much he loved her daughter. She pitied the guy, his reaction earlier on proved that they were in love, this wasn't a game.  
"You could sle-" Ezra cut her off then, his tone coming out harsher than he wanted it to. He just snapped.  
"I don't want to, I want my girlfriend back!" He sighed, shaking his head. "Sorry."  
"No, don't apologise. I know this must be hard on you, it is for me, too."  
Ezra glanced at the space behind him, Ella using this as her cue to take a space beside the broken man. "Things have just started to get better again, after everything. The Wes thing, the whole pregnancy scare." Ella's eyes shot up, her eyes wide.  
"Pregnant?!"  
"It's a long story, don't worry. No grandchildren yet..." With a small sigh, Ezra sniffled once more, his phone ringing loudly in his pocket. "Fucking brilliant." The guy muttered, pulling his phone out to see Wesley's caller ID.  
"Is it Aria?!" Ella asked with hopeful eyes, smiling slightly to herself.  
"No, I have to take this." Ezra excused himself, stepping into the kitchen to answer the call. If there was one thing that needed to be done that would help them both, it was this. "Do you love Aria?!"  
"What?" Wesley said in a sleepy tone, yawning through the line.  
"Answer the fucking question Wesley."  
There was a small silence. "Yes."  
"Then tell me where you are. She needs your help."

"So you're in?" A wide grin spread across Wesley's face. This was it.

"I'm in."


	45. Chapter 45

Eight days, four hours, seventeen minutes.  
It was like the day was dragging on, second by second.  
Wesley still hadn't called Ezra, or informed him where he was. He couldn't do anything. No one would let him see Aria, no one would let him speak to her. It was.. Slowly... Sending... Him insane. He still had all of her things how she had left it. The random magazines on the table, her clothes scattered amongst the apartment here and there. As each day passed, he seemingly lost the brightness of his life, giving up hope bit by bit.  
That's when there was a shuffling behind the door, followed by a knock, and a ding of his phone. Ezra knew right there and then, but he couldn't bring himself to answer the door. Was he really ready to see the so called brother that completely ruined his life? That tore away his girlfriend? Course not.  
"You can answer the door now, idiot." Wesley said in a teasing tone, which made Ezra's blood boil. It was as if nothing had happened. Ezra knew one thing for sure; If he went crazy at Wesley, and actually did what he'd wanted to do for month, Wesley would just walk out. He couldn't push Wesley out again, if he wanted his girlfriend back. Slowly, and by slowly he means, taking it one step per minute, Ezra reached the door, pulling it open to see a rather mucky looking Wesley.  
He looked himself, but his clothes weren't like they usually were. Worn and old. "It's good to see you." Ezra said in the brightest tone that he could, clicking the joints of his fingers one by one.  
"I could say the same!" Wesley said enthusiastically, giving Ezra a pat on the shoulder and walking right into the apartment. He rolled his eyes at the mess, grimacing. "I see that you cleaned up."  
"Well, my girlfriends in prison right now for your murder." He spun around, his jaw dropping at his brothers words. Aria had gotten the blame.  
"She wasn't supposed to get the blame for that."  
"Then who was, Wesley? Because if it's not her, then I need to help her." Wesley stayed quiet, grabbing a can of cherry cola from the fridge, plopping down on the sofa. "Wesley. She needs you to help her."

"I'm supposed to be dead, in case you've forgotten." Was all Ezra got back, as Wesley pushed the magazines down onto the floor, his feet resting in the spot that the magazines were on just a few seconds earlier.

"Wesley, she'll go down for this. If you're in love with someone, you don't let them go to jail." Everything grew silent then, except the Television. "If you loved my girlfriend, or if you have any ounce of guilt inside of you for what you did, you will help her."

"I can't!"

That was it. Ezra couldn't take it anymore. He wasn't going to play nice. He roughly grasped Wesley by the collar of his shirt, yanking him to his feet in an instant.

"Do you know what she's been through because of you? What we've been through? How many times I've had to listen to her cry because everything's so messed up now! Why? Because you didn't stop when she said no." Ezra paused, purposely, to let his words sink in , before continuing. This was sure to make him crack. "How did it feel, Wesley?"

Wes tried to push himself free of Ezra's grip, falling back down onto the couch. "What're you talking about?"

Ezra laughed dryly, shaking his head in fake amusement. "You were sat right there, Wesley. How did it feel, to have her screaming beneath you?"

"Stop." Wesley spat out through gritted teeth. He didn't want to be reminded, not now.

"Squirming and pushing against your chest? Trying, begging you to stop. What, did that make you feel better about yourself? That you made /MY/ girlfriend got through that, my girlfriend, Wesley. She's so afraid of you, she cries hers-"

He was cut off then, by Wesley letting out a loud yell, shaking his head as he clung to his hair tightly.

"I didn't mean it. I want to take it back, I do."

Ezra leant forward, his arms folded across his chest as he spoke.

"Then let her go home free."

Aria hadn't had as much as a phone call in the last three days. It was insane how much your perspective changed when you were locked up all the time. Thanks to a fight that involved seven girls against one, Aria was working a fat lip, swollen nose and black eye, the inmates called it the "common look."

Finally, she had eaten something. Sure, it was only a bowl of some uncalled mush, but it did the job. Aria didn't feel faint anymore.

She missed Ezra, more than words could say. She missed being able to fall asleep with his arms wrapped tightly around her waist. The nightmare that she had had the previous night, it couldn't be soothed away by Ezra. It was stuck fresh in her mind, the memory of him screaming and crying out for her making her head spin, and her heart melt. She could see the fear in his eyes, Just like in her nightmare, when she tried to reach out to him. He didn't want her anymore.

With a reluctant sigh, the short officer, pushed open the cell door, folding her arms tightly over her chest. Why couldn't this stupid case be over already? Aria didn't say a thing, only pulled her knees up to her chest, the sudden gust of cold wind causing her to shiver.

"It seems that the person you killed isn't as dead as you think." Aria's brows knitted together at the short ladies words, and she raised to her feet, playing with the ends of her hair nervously. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Was she talking about Wesley? No, of course not. Dead, remember? "Come on then, before someone else is charged."

Aria nervously followed behind the small woman, ignoring the stares of the taller, more bulky women watching her.

And that's when she saw him, stood at the end of the corridor, tapping his foot impatiently as he waited for her to finally be in his arms again.


	46. Chapter 46

"Ezra?" Aria called out to the brown haired man at the other end of the room, freezing in her place. That was him, wasn't it? He looked a little rough to be Ezra, a little too worn down. Maybe Ezra had done what he had asked her to do, just forget about him and move on.

But, finally, the person turned around, the colour of his eyes enough to tell Aria exactly who he was. The moment he saw her, Ezra immediately jolted forward, trying to get to her as quickly as possible, not caring how he looked right now.

She did exactly the same, lazily running towards him until they finally met in the middle, hearts racing as they searched one another over, sobbing. He noticed the bruised face, tilting it up for him to inspect. She noticed the bags beneath his eyes, the strange odour coming from his shirt.

"Don't you ever do anything like that to me again, do you understand?!" Ezra said harshly, in which tears sprung in Aria's eyes. "You can't leave me again."

"I won't, I won't." Aria repeated over and over, placing her hand over his as it ran over her cheek. She could see the worry in his eyes, he was petrified. ""I'm fine, see." She began, leaning into his touch. "I'm right here. I'm right here." She wrapped her arms around his chest, burying herself against his chest. "Gosh, you stink."

Ezra couldn't help but laugh at her words, squeezing her even tighter just to make sure that she wouldn't disappear, like he had dreamt about. You know, when he actually slept. Which was for about an hour out of the week she was away. Not in his arms, now she was.

Aria pulled away, forcefully smashing her lips to his, a kiss that she had waited to happen for a week and a day. She had planned this out, but it didn't feel like she wanted to.

No, it felt better. Ezra bit down on her bottom lip, getting slightly carried away with himself, before he ripped his lips away for a second, pressing continuous light kisses to her lips, in an attempt to kiss away the bruising that had formed there. "Who did this to you?" Aria's gaze shot to the floor, and she began rocking back and forth. "Aria, who was it?"

"I got in the way."

"Who would do that? I'm going to kill whoever did this to you." Aria sighed, grasping Ezra's hands to lace them with her own.

"Look at me." Aria ordered, pressing a kiss to his knuckles. "I'm fine, I just want to go home, and sleep." She hadn't slept all that much, not at all. It's like jail cells hadn't heard of heating. A thought entered her mind, and she began to smile. It was only a small smile, but it was big enough to make Ezra mirror her expression. "From now on, it's just me and you, we don't need anyone else. You and me, not caring about anyone else. We're going to walk out of here as Aria and Ezra Fitz, we're going to start fresh. We're finding a new apartment, we're going to go back to us. And most of all, we're going to start a family." Ezra was slightly surprised at his girlfriends words, but he just nodded, running a hand along her dry hair. It didn't have the usual bounce.

"Okay, Aria and Ezra Fitz." Ezra agreed, sealing the deal with a long, lingering kiss. "We start now."

"I love you, Ezra Fitzgerald. So fucking much." He nodded in agreement, murmuring against her lips. "I love you too."

"If you leave me again, I'll be forced to ban all sex."

"Yes, Sir." Aria replied, tugging Ezra close. "Who came forward anyway? Who killed Wesley?"

"Wesley did." Was all Ezra said simply, wrestling against her fingers. "He's not dead."


	47. Chapter 47

"Ezra, how did you get me out of there?" Aria said suddenly, this thought only now coming to mind. "I mean, what did you do? You couldn't of just turned up here, and been all like "Let her go." It wouldn't happen. What did you do?" Now, Ezra had two options here. One, was to tell the truth, the other was to save her the nightmare of discovering that the person that practically ruined her life wasn't dead at all.

"You're welcome." A voice came from behind them, both of them spinning around to see Wesley being guided past them. Ezra let out a sigh, whilst Aria felt every bone in her body freeze. She felt weak at the knees, completely taken aback by all of this. Her lips began to move, but no words came out, just small whimpers or terror, this was her worst nightmare. How could he be alive? It was then that Aria wanted to turn around and go straight back into the prison as quickly as possible, locking herself away for the rest of her life.

"No, no, no, no." Aria repeated over and over again, pushing Ezra away whenever he would try and get close to her. She wasn't going to allow this. "Ezra, please tell me I'm imagining this, please tell me that you can't see him too." She would rather be insane than actually be seeing this.

"Calm down." Ezra whispered out quietly, pulling Aria into his chest. She buried herself in it, taking a look over his shoulder just to double check Wesley had gone.

Not a chance.

He had been stopped, ordered to take off his jacket and remove his belongings.

"Why isn't he dead?"

"You tell me. I hunted him down, trying to get him to come forward and help you." Aria's gaze shot up then, his words causing her to intake a gasp.

"You knew that he was alive?! And you didn't tell me?! Ezra!" Ezra shook his head quickly, placing a finger to her lips to silence her from rambling on at him any longer. It wasn't needed.

"He called me, I kind of guessed that you can't get signal six feet under." With a frustrated groan, Aria slapped Ezra's arm forcefully, shoving against his chest. He grasped her hands, shaking his head once more. "Stop it." She stopped instantly, tears welling in her eyes as sudden realization kicked in.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She whimpered out almost inaudibly, taking another glance over her shoulder at Wesley. This time, he waved.

"Because you would've done this. Now, I need you to listen to what he's going to say, alright." Aria went to refuse and say no, but Ezra gave her a stern look, and she immediately nodded, with a small sigh.

"I want to go home."

"You can. Just, in a minute okay? We'll pick up some food and go home." Aria reluctantly nodded once more, clinging tightly to Ezra's hand, as he began pulling her towards the man she hated most in the world, Wesley's smile growing slightly at the sight of Aria. He had missed her, an awful lot. "Hey, eyes away." Wesley's eyes instantly moved towards Ezra. "You have thirty seconds, go."

Wesley scoffed at how much his brother had changed, shaking his head in disgust. "It cost a lot of money, I'll tell you that now."

"What did?" Aria said through narrowed eyes, squeezing Ezra's hand so tightly that he thought it'd fall off.

"Faking my own death. It took a long time to plan. I had to get away, I just couldn't take it anymore."

Ezra's brows furrowed, even he hadn't heard this part before. "Couldn't take what anymore? You told me that you felt guilty about what you did to Aria, that's why you left." Aria felt herself become flushed, her eyes shooting down to the floor in embarrassment. She didn't really want to talk about this, especially to the man who caused it upon her.

"Oh please, no. I've been receiving death threats. Letters, notes, knives and other weapons in my room. I even received a tape, of me and Aria. I had to get away from it all, before I went insane."

He couldn't speak any longer, the guard had already began to tug him away from the newly reunited couple. "I told them everything."

Aria froze, before approaching the younger Fitz, her hand striking his left cheek with full force.

"And that's for what you did." She said with an innocent smile, backing away from him to join her boyfriend, clinging tightly to his hand once more. "Now we go home?"

Ezra only nodded, proud of Aria for what she had done. "Now we go home."


	48. Chapter 48

She had slept like a baby.

More than great, it was like she hadn't slept in years, and now she had just gotten into bed for the first time in she couldn't remember how long. Aria had slept the whole night in Ezra's arms, only pulling away when he manoeuvred her out of his arms to answer the phone. He didn't want to leave, of course not, but the continuous ringing of the phone, going on and on and on stopped Ezra from having time alone with his girlfriend, who he had only just got back, might he add. It was frustrating, but the ringing wouldn't stop.

It was work, ordering that he go into work and cover for the English class. He tried arguing, but after all of the time that he had had off, it was either come in and work or never do it again.

So he had to agree, hanging up immediately and quietly grasping up Aria's phone. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, being gone for a few hours.

"Hello?" Ezra muttered lazily, running a hand through his hair and trying to wake himself up.

"Mr Fitz?" Emily's voice rung through the phone, she had obviously only just woken up to. It was six am, never a good time to wake someone. "Is everything okay?"

"Everything's fine." Ezra began in a quiet tone, glancing at his sleeping girlfriend. His mind went blank, and for a moment, Ezra forgot why he was calling. "Are you free today? I have work, and Aria's just got back. I really don't want to leave her on her own, it won't be for long."

"No, no. It's fine. I'll be there within the hour!" She said enthusiastically, excited to see her best friend again. Ezra thanked her, hanging up and setting the phone down onto the cabinet. Taking a moment to admire Aria all cuddled up beneath the covers, he took a seat beside her, running his fingertips through her hair.

"Aria?" Ezra whispered out, tucking the wild locks of hair behind her ear. She stirred in her sleep, not wanting to be disturbed from her dream. "I have to go." Aria came to her senses then, shaking her head furiously. Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him against to her.

"I just got back..." She muttered lazily, clinging tightly to him. She didn't want him to leave her.

"I'll be back soon, I promise." Aria reluctantly sighed, pressing kisses to his lips before nodding. "Back soon, Emily's coming over."

"Hmm, I love you."

"I love you too." Ezra intertwined his fingers with hers, pressing a kiss to her knuckles. "We have a lot of catching up to do when I get back." With a nod of her head, Aria pressed a final kiss to his lips, raking her nails up his back. He handed her the phone, whispering against her lips. "Call me if you need anything." Aria nodded, shoving it into the pocket of Ezra's shirt that he had allowed her to borrow. Well, she stole it and jumped in to bed before he could argue but that wasn't the point.

"Now, get ready before you're late. That won't go down well."

Ezra laughed, beginning to get ready for work.

By the time Emily turned up, it was past ten, and Aria had began to worry.

"Hey, Aria!" Emily announced, closing the door and locking it behind her.

Aria picked up on it then, the sound of Emily's tone. Hey, maybe she just wasn't feeling too good or something.

"No cupcakes today?" Aria teased, pouring the coffee into the two cups.

"Nah,I don't think we'll need it."

Aria arched a brow, glancing at her best friend in confusion.

"Huh? You always bring cupcakes."

"Not today. You see, there's something that we need to talk about."

"I'm confused." Aria was beyond confused right now, and she was still exhausted from the week that she had had in a jail cell.

That's when Emily stepped into the kitchen beside Aria, dragging the largest knife from the knife set upon the counter, admiring the way the light emitted from it with a mischievous grin. Yep, consider Aria confused.

"Did Ezra ever tell you what he did to Maya?" Emily's voice rung through the apartment, Aria backing up instinctively. "How it was him, it was all him."

"What're you talking about? Ezra didn't kill anyone."

Emily laughed dryly, shaking the knife from side to side.

"Really? He didn't tell you? Well, isn't this rich. His girl isn't going to leave this apartment alive, and you have no idea why." Emily stepped forward, as Aria tried to dart for the bathroom, almost dropping the phone that Ezra had given her onto the floor. Emily grasped her by the back of the head, slamming her into the door frame and knocking her to the ground. "Ezra killed Maya, and now you're paying for it."


	49. Chapter 49

Wesley had finally come to his senses. Apparently, faking your own death isn't a crime, just a necessity to survive. He had accidentally missed out the whole Aria thing, and now he was making up for it by checking up on her. Ezra, having been way too paranoid to leave, left Wesley a message, asking him to check up on her and Emily. The deal, however meant that he couldn't enter the apartment under any circumstances. That was fine, Wesley would apologise for his actions through the door, no big deal.

Now by the time he had began walking up the steps, he had already considered turning around and walking away twice, hailing a cab and starting a new life somewhere hot, with a lot of women. A lot. That way he could do as he pleased, they couldn't arrest him there.

Finally, Wesley managed to climb the steps to apartment three B, going to knock on the door when he heard a smash, followed by an ear piercing scream. It was a scream he recognised, it was Aria's. That's when he panicked, pounding on the door with one hand, whilst the other fumbled into his pocket, tearing out his phone and dialling Ezra's number. The first three times it went straight to answer phone, obviously Ezra was being arrogant. The screaming continued, pleads and yells coming from behind the door. And then, just like that it stopped, and Ezra picked up the phone, snapping at Wesley. Gosh, couldn't a guy go two hours without being stalked.

"WHAT? I have a class!" Ezra said in a harsh tone, turning away from the students. "What do you want?"

"There's screaming, and now its stopped and I don't know what's going on." Wesley rushed, Ezra letting out a scoff to indicate that he thought that his brother was lying. "Something's wrong in there, and I can't open the door."

"I don't have time-" Ezra was cut off as another screech swept through the apartment building, travelling down the phone for Ezra to hear. "What was that?"

"Your freaking girlfriend, you douchebag. Now please hurry up and bring your key so that I can get in and SAVE her." Ezra said nothing, just hung up the phone and sped from the room in a hurry, completely forgetting his class until someone called him. Ezra rolled his eyes, taking a step back into the classroom and excusing himself properly, before he was gone again. "WILL SOMEONE OPEN THIS DOOR!" Wesley yelled, furiously turning the door handle to see if it would miraculously open for him, but obviously it didn't.

By now, Emily had managed to corner Aria, making swings at her any chance that she got. She was getting that knife into her, she didn't care where but Aria wasn't leaving this apartment alive, no chance in hell. Did nobody understand how much she had worked her butt off to get this far in without being caught? Trust her when she tells you, it wasn't easy. All of the framing, planning, manipulating, hitting people with large cars, it all lead to this. There was no way that she was going back. Not in a million years.

And besides, Ezra was paying for this. For taking away her love, ripping her from her grasp before Emily even had the chance to say goodbye. It was insane. Of course, she didn't want to kill her best friend, but it was necessary for revenge, she was sure that Aria would see that soon enough, and forgive her whilst she burnt in hell for her boyfriends sins.

Now, all Aria had to do was dodge the wide knife and pray that Ezra, or someone else would waltz in and help her. Hardly likely, seeing as Emily had locked the door. While Aria was at it, why the fuck was her best friend trying to kill her? Ezra hadn't killed Maya, that was completely absurd, Ezra wouldn't hurt a fly, let along a 16 year old girl. Maybe Emily had taken some of her mothers meds, or was currently sleep walking. Hey, maybe Aria was still asleep and this was another one of her silly prison nightmares.

But the moment Emily managed to grasp Aria by the neck, and throw her against the wall, all screams stopped, and the knife was plunged into her gut. Aria let out a whimper, her eyes instantly falling down to her shirt, the one that her boyfriend had once worn, slowly beginning to turn a crimson colour, the pain kicking in just as Emily leant in to whisper into her ear.

"Say hello to Maya for me." She whispered, a light chuckle slipping through her lips as she yanked out the knife, and Aria let out a scream, too shocked, too frightened, and in too much pain to cry. So instead, she went for the next option, sliding down the wall and holding tightly onto the wound. The smell of blood filled the room, one of Aria's weaknesses. Blood made her sick. Her bestfr- Well, best friend until this moment, leant forward once more, tucking a strand of Aria's hair behind her ear beside Aria's best efforts to pull herself away. She couldn't move though, there was no chance that she was getting out of this. "Aw, you want me to help you?" the wounded girls bottom lip quivered, a sure answer to her question. "Hey, blame Mr Lover. This is your own fault for getting in with a teacher, you know. It always ends badly. Emily noticed how pale Aria had gotten, how much her hands were shaking, and how much she wanted to cry out in pain. But that wasn't happening, not with the loud racket at the door, it swinging open in seconds. She swung around, mentally slapping herself for not pushing something heavy in front of it.

Ezra's eyes searched the apartment, before his eyes finally laid upon his girlfriend, sat against the wall with a pool of blood beside her, growing wider at an increasing wide.

"What're you doing?!" Ezra yelled trying to run for Aria, who just tried to mumble out his name in pleas. Emily let out a dry laugh, stepping in front of Aria protectively. "One more step, Mr Fitz and you won't get chance to say goodbye."

"Why're you doing this?" Wesley popped up from behind Ezra, pulling at Ezra's shoulder to hold him back, only to be pushed away.

"This is what Ezra gets, for killing my girlfriend."

Then it all made sense.

"I didn't kill Maya." Ezra said sternly, glancing at Aria as she writhed in pain. "But /he/ did." He bobbed his head in Wesley's direction, Wesley's face automatically masking guilt. "After we found out that she's –A."

Emily's eyes rolled, a nonchalant laugh being released. "Oh please, that isn't going to work."

"You think that we're lying? Look at it all, Emily. It was her, always has been her. –A started pestering you the moment Maya arrived, and if you looked into her past, you'd find that her and Alison, closer than you think." She didn't look one bit convinced. With a roll of his eyes, Ezra began rummaging through his drawers, revealing a black book and handed it to her quickly. It was all Emily needed, and she let out a gasp, the knife clashing onto the floor in an instant.

Ezra took this as his opportunity pushing Emily out of the way and sending her flying onto the ground, kicking the knife in the opposite direction before he jumped at his now unmoving girlfriend, the full extent of her injury kicking in.

"Aria, Aria look at me." Ezra repeated over and over again, his hands soon becoming soaked in blood as he raised them to her face, her eyes drifting open for almost a second. "You're fine, see. You're going to be fine." It wasn't convincing, but it'd do. It'd help Ezra as much as her. Aria shook her head the best that she could, not even being able to keep her eyes open at this point. She felt so tired, the pain wasn't felt.

"I.." Aria began, moving a shaky hand from her stomach to his face. It was painted red, but she managed to run a hand along his cheek, Ezra immediately leaning into her touch. "I love you..."

"You're going to be fine, I promise."

"I'm not, Ezra. This is the big finish. This is it."Ezra furiously shook his head, blocking out Emily's continuous apologies and Wes yelling down the phone.

"I just got you back." He whispered, tears rolling down his cheeks. "You can't leave me again."

Aria let out what she thought was a life, eyes briefly opening again. "Haven't you ever seen Romeo and Juliet, that's us. Star-crossed lovers. This is it for us."

"Please don't leave me." His voice came out as a whimper this time, and he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"I'm right here." Was the last thing Aria managed to get out.

And then everything grew silent, the only thing being heard was Emily's sobs.


	50. Chapter 50

Their lives couldn't be more messed up right now. A crazy 'Hey, I'm going to sexually assault your girlfriend.' brother. Oh, and let's not forget that Aria's best friend has been trying to tear her to shreds for the past few months.

And to top it all off, Emily had just about succeeded.

Here he was, along with Ella, laying beside his unconscious girlfriend for the fifth night in a row now. Ella was fast asleep beside them both, exhausted from the many nights of sitting and watching nothing progress. Obviously, she saw this coming. Being left that long, bleeding for almost a half hour, that was enough to kill you instantly. But of course, Aria was stubborn, she wasn't giving up, not yet. It's not as if Ezra was letting her go so easily, obviously. He continued to hold on to her twenty four hours of the day, refusing to leave her or return back to the apartment. It was cute, but everyone had to admit that he had to stop holding on and just... let go.

"Still nothing?" The usual doctor said, setting down his clipboard onto the table before Aria's bed. Ezra shook his head, his arms continuing to stay around his girlfriend. She was hooked up to a few wires, so he had to be careful where he laid. The doctor, who hadn't actually told them his name, sighed deeply, only getting a few words out before Ezra sharply cut him off. "You know, we did say if she wasn't awake in 72 hours..."

"She's fine. She's just.. working it off."

"You said the exact same thing yesterday." The doctor didn't need this, he just wanted to have this done with. That's what working sixteen hours does for you. Ezra said nothing, another, more nicer nurse popping in. They knew that her name was Poppy, she couldn't have helped anymore.

"How's everyone doing?" Poppy said cheerfully, a smile setting on Ezra's face. She made sure that Aria was clean and wasn't still covered in blood. Ezra had refused to go near her when she was, he wouldn't be reminded of the sight of her sitting there, bleeding out. It had killed him.

"She's fine. Sleeping." He replied in a mutter.

Poppy and the old man had a small glance in each others direction.

"There's nothing more that we can do, Ezra." Poppy said in a soft tone, setting the sandwich down onto the table. Ezra wouldn't ever eat it, though.

"There's everything that you can do! Look at her, she's still breathing!"

"Not on her own. She's not going to make it, Ezra. A five percent chance, that's very slim."

"She's stubborn, she won't give up on anything once she's set her mind on something, and this is something that she's determined on doing. Why can't anyone see that?!" He was becoming frustrated now, why could no one see that she was going to make it past this? He could see. "Aria's still in there, and she's going to make it."

Neither of them could argue with his wishes, they couldn't just turn it all off. Maybe letting his live it out would help. Live it out to the end.

Whatever happened to the saying 'All good things come to those who wait?'

He'd waited, and waited, and waited, all for what? Having to watch his girlfriend, the only person in this world that made his life worthwhile, whilst she laid there, never moving. It was like she was slowly dying. But then Ezra refused to give up. So he waited, and waited, and waited.

"He has to give it up." Ella muttered harshly to Spencer, Hanna and Mike, placing her face in her hands. "He needs to just let her go."

They had all given up, just simply let go. They all had to.

"He loves her, a lot. He's not going to give up on her." Spencer replied, as Hanna began to sob again. She was such a drama queen.

"I told Emily everything, /everything./ She's a killer. I can't even believe-"

"Shut up, Hanna."

Hanna instantly grew silent, rocking from side to side as she hugged her body.

"Hey, maybe she'll beat that 95% chance." They all scoffed, glancing at Mike with a raised brow. "You know what she's like, she'll see this through."

"I don't want to lose her." Ella popped back into the conversation, leaning against Mike. Mike had made an appearance after finally admitting to his mother that he hit something with Ella's car after taking it during one of his 'highs' with his friends. But Ella had worst things to think about right now. At least Mike wasn't on the verge of death.

After finishing his coffee, Ezra set it down in the overflowing bin, taking his familiar place on the bed beside Aria. Talking to himself was something that he was used to now.

"You know, you're going to make a full recovery. You're going to wake up." He ran his hand along her arm, dancing his fingertips along her arm. "And then we're going to go back to the apartment. Buy that new place, remember? And have all those Little Fitz', running around and clinging to our ankles. Fighting over stupid things, walking out only to walk back in again." He laughed to himself, even though he must have sounded crazy. "I remember you saying 'it's just me and you, we don't need anyone else. You and me, not caring about anyone else. We Were going to walk out of here as Aria and Ezra Fitz, we're going to start fresh. We're finding a new apartment, we were going to go back to us. And most of all, we're going to start a family'." He was proud that he had remembered it all, down to a T. "If you die, I swear..." A thought entered Ezra's mind, and he couldn't help but sigh to himself, nodding. "You need to marry me already."

"Yes, I will. Now please shut up." A sudden voice rung through the room, Ezra's eyes widening as he glanced down at his girlfriend. She weakly raised her hand up, pushing at his face. "Gosh, you're so soppy."

"How long have you been awake?" Ezra suddenly felt embarrassed that he had been rambling on.

"Long enough to hear you rambling." Aria said, wincing as she tried to turn on her side, sudden realization kicking in. "Please tell me that I'm not here."

Ezra sighed, running a hand down her cheek to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. "She was arrested on the spot, don't worry." Her hands automatically began to shake, the memories all shooting back to her at once, as her head began to spin. "Hey, Hey look at me." Ezra said lightly, Aria's gaze automatically moving to him. "It's over. We're getting a good ending. " She placed her had above Ezra's, smiling as she pressed a kiss to the palm of his hand.

"Happy ending begins now."

"Guys, she's awake!" Hanna squealed, causing three more bodies to walk in. Aria's eyes scanned over Hanna, and then Ella, Spencer and Mike.

"I did try and tell you." Spencer muttered smugly, receiving an elbow in the gut. She winced, Aria laughing at Spencer's reaction. "I'm just trying to lighten the mood."

"Hey, guess who's getting married?" Ezra said quickly, pressing a kiss to Aria's lips. "Aand this is my cue to leave." He quickly manoeuvred himself from the best, despite Aria's tight hold on him. "I'll be back."

"I love you." Ezra couldn't help but grin at her words, pressing another kiss to her lips.

"I love you too, Mrs Fitz."

And that's it! I just want to thank all of you for actually reading this, it means an awful lot to me.

You should all thank my best friend Cuppy, for being the most amazing person that I've ever spoken to. She's the person who refuses to sleep until I've uploaded a chapter. Go read her story, I demand it!

I shall be writing a one shot to continue this, and then I'll be writing a new story, starting Monday.

Thanks!


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